Labor called out over ‘radio silence’ on skilled migration amid program stall

Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Tony Burke is under mounting pressure to release the numbers allocated for the permanent migration program, amid warnings the delay has stalled a critical skilled visa program.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke after question time at Parliament House in Canberra this week. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Tony Burke is under mounting pressure to release the numbers allocated for the permanent migration program, amid warnings the delay has stalled a critical skilled visa program.

The Australian can reveal the Albanese government has not issued an invitation for its points-based general skills visa stream since November, in a delay described as “unprecedented” in the program’s history.

Immigration experts have urged Mr Burke to announce the planning levels for the permanent migration program – including skilled and family streams – for this financial year, with the apparent pause in visa allocations being attributed to the delay.

Migration Institute of Australia chief executive Peter van Vliet said it was “well past time” the federal government released its plan, with the 2025-26 financial year having already begun.

“We haven’t had a general skilled migration invitation round since November 2024, which is unprecedented,” he said.

“The uncertainty is causing significant concern for our agents and lawyers, and making it impossible for them to advise clients properly.

“It is also causing significant distress for some clients who cannot plan for their future.

“Australia may miss out on the skills we need to keep our economy moving forward if this isn’t attended to as a matter of priority.”

The skilled independent visa has been issued by invitation only from a pool of applications from people who have submitted an expression of interest, based on the migrant’s score against a points-based test. Mr van Vliet said that previously invitations had been issued every few months.

The Department of Home Affairs said the settings for the permanent program were being “considered”, as government sources attributed the eight-month gap since invitations had been issued to the “periodical” nature of the scheme rather than a pause.

“Where a decision on the size and composition of the permanent migration program isn’t made before the start of a new program year (July 1), the program defaults to the previous year’s settings until a new decision of government,” a department spokesman said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Paul Scarr said Australia was in a “global competition” to recruit skilled workers, and called on the Albanese government to explain its “radio silence” on migration since the election. 

“Whether they are carpenters or heart surgeons, the best-qualified and skilled have options,” Senator Scarr said.

“They are not going to wait months and months for the Labor government to get its act together.”

Opposition immigration spokesman Paul Scarr. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Former Immigration official Abul Rizvi.

Former Immigration Department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi said the issuing of skilled independent visas had effectively been stalled until the federal government released its permanent migration planning levels. Dr Rizvi said the delay would stall other skilled visa streams, including the category nominated by states and territories.

“They can’t issue any invitations until the government decides on what the overall program is,” he said.

“So basically, the Immigration Department has to just cool its heels waiting for a decision, so do the states.

“The states can’t do anything either. All of the states nominated programs that are at the moment closed, all their state staff who process these registrations of interest are just twiddling their thumbs waiting for governments to decide things.”

Dr Rizvi said the delay would impact the nation’s ability to bring in skilled migrants, particularly nurses, the largest cohort, with 9813 registered nurses emigrating to Australia under the skills stream in 2023-24.

“In my view, it’s almost inevitable now, unless the government significantly increases the size of the program, it will lead to a reduction in the number of nurses,” he said.

Dr Rizvi said the government’s lag in releasing the permanent migration plan likely stemmed from a reluctance to commit to prioritising the skilled stream over the family intake, amid an explosion in the partner visa backlog. Typically, governments release the planning figures months before the start of the financial year, alongside the federal budget.

In 2024-25 the government allotted 185,000 places, including 132,200 skilled visas and 52,500 for the family stream. Under the law, citizens have the right to bring their partners to reside in Australia.

“Think of it as a wave coming into the beach, the first stage of the wave was a massive inflow of students and working holiday makers,” Dr Rizvi said.

“Then they move into the temporary visa stage, that’s a mixture of different temporary visas, including the Covid visa, temporary graduate visas and temporary skilled migration visas … so that’s the second stage of the wave.

“And the third stage of the wave is when it starts crashing into the permanent visa stage, and that’s where it’s at now.”

Immigration levels become a central issue during Anthony Albanese’s first term, with Labor vowing to slash net overseas migration following a post-pandemic boom. The Coalition had promised to pursue deeper cuts.