Coalition threat to migrants’ study and work

The Coalition says it would examine the removal of work and study entitlements for nearly 80,000 unsuccessful asylum-seekers awaiting deportation from Australia.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan.

The Coalition says it would examine the removal of work and study entitlements for nearly 80,000 unsuccessful asylum-seekers awaiting deportation from Australia as part of a “suite of policy reforms” to bring down net overseas migration.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan told The Weekend Australian removal of the entitlements would provide a new incentive for the 78,256 foreigners who fell into this category to leave the country.

“We have to make sure our migration system is operated with integrity and can manage temporary migration,” Mr Tehan said. “Labor has issued a record number of student visas and we are now starting to see growing numbers of international students claiming asylum.”

In December, the Home Affairs Department said there were about 385 people with less than a year remaining on student visas who had applied for asylum.

“People who came here as international students and have failed their asylum claim are still allowed to work and study while awaiting deportation,” Mr Tehan said. “During a housing and rental crisis this should be looked at.”

In February, the department also confirmed that of the roughly 78,000 people who had not been granted a final protection visa but were yet to be deported, just less than 80 per cent had work and study rights.

“The Coalition will target non-genuine asylum-seekers as part of our plan to get migration down,” Mr Tehan said.

Student visa holders represented the largest cohort of people with a year or less remaining on their visa who had applied for asylum. They were followed by people on temporary work visas who had applied for asylum.

Peter Dutton used his budget reply speech on Thursday to say he would reduce the permanent migration program by 25 per cent, slashing it from 185,000 to 140,000 for two years before phasing it up to 160,000 by year four. The Opposition Leader said this was part of a bid to free up 100,000 homes over five years.

He told 3AW radio on Friday the Coalition would seek to “bring back the net overseas migration to … about 160,000”.

This is a major reduction, with the budget forecasts showing the government aiming to reduce the intake to 260,000 in 2024-25 from a projected 395,000 in 2023-24.

Mr Dutton also unveiled a plan for a two-year ban on foreign investors and temporary residents buying existing residential properties to help free up homes for Australians. The government warned on Friday the number of properties bought by foreign purchasers was “underwhelmingly small”, and Housing Minister Julie Collins cautioned that the opposition was providing “no money for new homes.”

An analysis of the “register of foreign ownership of residential land” suggests the Coalition policy would only have reduced the number of foreign purchases by 2052 if operating between 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Mr Dutton also flagged a crackdown to limit foreign student numbers to relieve stress on rental markets. But Student Accommodation Council executive director Torie Brown told The Weekend Australian this cohort was “not competing with Australian families looking to buy homes in the suburbs”.