The Coalition plans to reduce Australia's net overseas immigration to 150,000-200,000 annually, as revealed in leaked documents. This strategy is part of Angus Taylor's preparations for a potential early election.
Key points
Coalition plans to cut immigration to 150,000-200,000 annually
Angus Taylor is preparing for a possible early election
Internal documents detail key policies for the election platform
Taylor oversees policy groups in seven priority areas
Mentioned in this story
CoalitionAngus TaylorAnthony AlbaneseSussan Ley
The Coalition is planing to cut Australia’s annual net overseas immigration levels to 150,000-200,000, according to a confidential policy roadmap that reveals Angus Taylor is preparing to fight a possible early election.
An internal document circulated to senior Coalition MPs details the key policies the opposition wants to build its election platform on, as it rebuilds from its catastrophic 2025 loss.
The document shows Taylor wants the Coalition’s “full platform” ready for a sign-off in February 2027, suggesting he wants to be prepared if Anthony Albanese calls an early election and to avoid the last-minute policy chaos that plagued Peter Dutton’s 2025 campaign.
After ousting Sussan Ley as Liberal leader in February, Taylor has been overseeing policy groups in seven priority areas: the economy, energy, families, better government services, housing, migration and national security.
The work of each taskforce - which is led by relevant shadow ministers - focuses on a specific policy “problem” the Coalition wants to solve.
For example, the question put to the migration taskforce is: “How can Australia reduce net overseas migration to 150,000-200,000 per year while minimising budget and economic impacts and strengthening social cohesion and Australia values?”
Taylor has vowed to slow arrival numbers as part of a hardline immigration strategy, but has not publicly committed to a specific target.
The range under consideration would be a significant cut to the existing level, which was 306,000 people in 2024-2025.
It would be higher than One Nation’s hard 130,000-person visa cap and the Howard-era net overseas immigration level of about 100,000 that is supported by former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott. Dutton pledged to cut in his first year if he won the election.
Q&A
What is the proposed new immigration rate for Australia?
The Coalition proposes to cut Australia's net overseas immigration to between 150,000 and 200,000 annually.
Who is leading the Coalition's immigration policy changes?
Angus Taylor is leading the Coalition's immigration policy changes as part of his role as opposition leader.
Why is the Coalition planning to change immigration levels?
The Coalition aims to establish a solid election platform and avoid past campaign chaos, particularly in light of a possible early election.
When is the Coalition expected to finalize its immigration policy?
The Coalition plans to have its full platform, including immigration policy, ready for sign-off by February 2027.
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In a statement a spokesperson for Taylor did not dispute that a 150,000-200,000 target was under consideration.
“As the leader has said, on migration the numbers have been too high and the standards have been too low,” the spokesperson said.
“We have announced the first instalment of our Australian Values First Migration Plan and will have more to say over the term.
“We are considering the full range of options because migration must be at a level Australia can absorb, with enough homes, services and social cohesion to support it.”
Taylor last month unveiled the first planks of an immigration policy that is designed to discriminate against people who didn’t subscribe to “Australian values”.
The opposition leader’s suggestion that people who migrate from liberal democracies were more likely to integrate prompted some concerns internally about further alienating Chinese Australians, who abandoned the Coalition at the past two federal elections.
Managing the relationship with Chinese Australians is part of the brief for Taylor’s taskforce on national security.
“How can the Coalition talk candidly and with moral clarity about our security environment, while ensuring that Chinese Australians feel celebrated for their past and future contributions to Australia?” the internal policy roadmap states.
The document reveals the Coalition want to lift productivity by 0.5 to 0-7% per year and improve housing affordability within two years.
The taskforce on families has been asked to look at options for a sweeping overhaul of the education, tax-and-transfer and social policy system and encourage “workforce participation and family formation”.
The government services taskforce will explore options to reduce costs, including through “right-sizing” the public service, opening the door to potential cuts to the federal bureaucracy.
The document shows the Coalition is planning a messaging blitz of voters in 33 target seats to coincide with next Thursday’s budget-in-reply speech, a platform that opposition leaders traditionally use to announce a new policy.
The roadmap states the Coalition want to have a “full platform” of policies “ready for pre-election finalisation and sign-off” in February 2027 – more than a year out from the scheduled date of the next federal election.
The timeframe indicates Taylor wants to be prepared for a possible 2027 election and avoid the policy chaos that derailed Dutton’s campaign.
“We are doing the policy work early because Australians deserve a serious, costed and credible alternative to a government that has lost control of the economy, the budget and our borders,” the opposition leader’s spokesman said.
