Pauline Hanson repeats infamous call to ‘halt’ migration after intake surges to 548k

Pauline Hanson has repeated her infamous claims about the rise of migration in Australia as new figures reveal a record high number of arrivals.

Pauline Hanson has called back to her now-infamous claims Australia is being “swamped” by Asian immigrants as she renewed calls to halt migration.

On the day new figures revealed Australia’s migration intake had surged to a record high of 548,800 arrivals in the year to September, threatening the government’s own efforts to ease levels, the senator said the warning she first made almost 30 years ago was proving true.

In an address to the Senate shortly after 9am, the One Nation leader called for a plebiscite to ascertain what Australians believe is an appropriate level of immigration, saying the “majority” did not want a “Big Australia”.

Senator Hanson used a speech on Thursday to repeat inflammatory claims made in her maiden speech to Parliament that Australia was being "swamped" by Asian migrants.

She was supported by her One Nation colleague Malcolm Roberts and United Australian Party senator Ralph Babet but was ultimately defeated in her efforts.

In her speech, she cast minds back to the first speech she made as the Oxley MP in 1996, where she said: “I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians”.

“I was called a racist, of course, by the major parties and big media who are in lockstep of a big Australia,” she said on Thursday.

“But today, seven out of the top 10 source countries for immigration to Australia are in Asia - including four out of the top five - and the numbers are out of control.

“Was I right? You’d never admit it. But yes, I am.”

On behalf of the majority of Australians, I demand a halt on immigration.

For many, many years, the Australian people have been telling us to lower immigration.

To keep the numbers low.

To put the interests of Australians living here before the interests of foreigners who… pic.twitter.com/VGwdRZGdXT

— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) March 20, 2024

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest release shows the net overseas migration figure increased by 60.3 per cent on the previous year.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said despite the government’s insistence otherwise, “Labor’s Big Australia” was just getting bigger, comparing the massive annual increase to “almost as many migrants … as the 600,000 fans who saw Taylor Swift across seven sold-out concerts at the MCG and Accor Stadium”.

Australia’s record migration intake has prompted a comparison to Taylor Swift. Picture: Don Arnold/TAS24/ for TAS Rights Management

“If you look at the first quarter for this financial year, the numbers continue to grow. As Australians will rightly ask, where are all these people going to live? We’re in the middle of a housing crisis,” he said.

he said the government needed to urgently cut migration to alleviate the pressures on housing, infrastructure, government services and the environment.

“In December, Anthony Albanese said ‘we have a plan to fix migration’, well, the Australian people are still waiting to see this plan in action.”

In a bid to get ahead of the figures, Labor on Wednesday recommitted to its crackdown on fraudulent visa applications and dodgy higher education providers.

The government also confirmed it would begin clamping down on a loophole in Australia’s visa system that allows international students to abandon university courses for cheap private colleges, otherwise known as “ghost colleges”.

Over the coming weeks, high-risk education providers will be issued with a six-month deadline to comply with new standards or otherwise face suspension from recruiting students from overseas.

“The actions this weekend will continue to drive migration levels down while delivering on our commitments in the migration strategy to fix the broken system we inherited,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said.

But the opposition is set to pile on the pressure, pushing for the government to deliver on its promise to halve net migration over two years.

Australia’s net overseas migration intake soared by 548,800 in the year to September, more than double its pre-pandemic annual average increase of 218,000. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The net overseas migration in the September quarter was 21,800 higher than the previous quarter, with a net 145,200 arrivals, which is below the 150,000 some economists and the Albanese government had anticipated.

The quarterly increase is the second highest in history, but below the March 2023 quarter when Australia’s net migrant intake was 157,700 — the largest ever quarterly increase.

The surge in the September quarter means net-migration could only increase by another 114,800 over the remaining nine months of the 2023-24 financial year to align with the government’s own forecasts of 240,000 in last May’s budget.

Net overseas migration refers to the gap between the number of international arrivals staying in Australia for longer than 12 months, and the number of long-term and permanent departures.

Net overseas migration drove 83 per cent of Australia’s annual population growth.

Including natural increase, Australia’s population grew by 2.5 per cent to 26.8 million people in the year.

Downplaying the migration increase on Wednesday, Ms O’Neil pointed a sharp fall in international arrivals in the final three months of the year, which would not be captured by the data.

“Since September, the government’s actions have led to substantial declines in migration levels, with recent international student visa grants down by 35 per cent on the previous year,” Ms O’Neil said on Wednesday.

While border closures through the pandemic pushed Australia’s migration intake into reverse, in the decade preceding Australia recorded an average yearly intake of just 218,000 – less than half of the expected figure.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil downplayed the migrant surge. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Australia’s record migration intake has become an increasingly sensitive issue for the government, with the Coalition accusing Labor of pursuing a “big Australia” strategy.

At the same time, the government is grappling with unprecedented housing and rental crises, which economists and analysts have warned is worsening due to the migration increase.

The government has accounted for the migration surge by contending the increase is a one-off event, as a rebalancing in population growth occurs after pandemic-era border closures stalled international arrivals.

Releasing a migration strategy in December last year, Ms O’Neil vowed to put the brakes on the surge in international arrivals.

According to the government’s own forecasts, it anticipates that Australia’s net overseas migration intake will be slashed by 50 per cent in 2025.

Should it be realised, a fall of this size would represent the largest decline in migration in Australia’s history outside of pandemics and world wars.