Coalition’s immigration policy announcement

Earlier this month Opposition Leader Angus Taylor announced the Coalition’s immigration policy that focuses on reducing overall migration levels, implementing strict ‘Australian values’ tests, and increasing security vetting.

The Coalition is the Liberal-National Coalition an alliance of conservative and centre-right political parties namely the Australian Liberal Party and the National Party of Australia.

Key aspects of the Coalition policy include mandatory social media checks, a ‘safe country list’ to fast-track visa rejections and deporting those who fail to uphold Australian values. This ‘Australian Values Statement’ is a binding visa condition with mandatory deportation for breaches.

The Coalition also want to establish a joint agency taskforce with Australian Federal Police, Border Force and ASIO to oversee security checks including social media screenings. All this aims to lower migration levels that the Coalition feels are too high.

The ‘safe country’ list would fast-track the removal of visa applicants whose protection claims are denied.

In some newspapers this policy has been described as a ‘Trump style’ approach.

Mr Taylor said that the policy is meant to restore our Australian standards of living and protect our way of life. He says our immigration numbers are too high, and this is leading a change for the worse in our country.

“When a country brings in too many people, and the people with the wrong motivations, it’s inevitable that the character of that country changes,” he said.

Mr Taylor relied on a YouGov poll from January 2026 that found 64 percent of Australians want lower migration.

He said that declining immigration standards have seen our door opened to migrants of subversive intent. According to Mr Taylor the Gaza cohort of 1700 people here on visas presents a high risk and must be re-assessed with greater scrutiny.

The Coalition has cited these three key pillars on which it bases its policy:

1. Putting Australian values first;

2. Shutting the door to people who abuse our immigration system; and

3. Showing a red light to radicals.

The Coalition wants to make the Australian Values Statement, which currently requires a signature, into a legally binding and enforceable visa condition for all temporary and permanent visa holders.

“In short, if a visa holder undermines our democratic values, doesn’t respect the law, or demonstrates they don’t respect our core values, they will be booted out of Australia,” Mr Taylor said.

“If a longstanding non-citizen hasn’t demonstrated Australian values, they too will be booted out of Australia.”

The Coalition will make learning English an obligation for permanent visa holders – not an option.

As for the second pillar the Coalition will “crack down” on overstayers with several measures.

First, it is intended to create a Safe Country List, countries on this list would be those deemed generally free from persecution. If a citizen of a safe country applies for a refugee and humanitarian visa from outside Australia, it will be assumed to be inadmissible. And if a citizen of a safe country is in Australia and makes a protection claim, their application can expect to be refused and their deportation fast-tracked.

“To those who say we will be in breach of the Refugee Convention, we will decide who deserves protection and the circumstances in which that protection is granted,” Mr Taylor said.

“We will establish a Joint Agency Taskforce to kick unlawful overstayers out of the country.”

The third pillar of the policy is for the Coalition to establish an Enhanced Security Screening Centre. According to Mr Taylor using the full suite of intelligence, screening, and enforcement capabilities, the centre will stop radicals, extremists, and terrorists from entering the country.

As part of the enhanced screening process, all visa applicants will be required to provide social media accounts when applying for a visa.

Amnesty International Australia has condemned the federal Coalition’s new immigration policy, describing the new policy as “divisive, discriminatory, and lacking in humanity” and calling for “leadership that brings communities together, not policies that divide us”.

The announced policy rolls back protections already provided to people fleeing the conflict and genocide in Gaza, reassessing more than 1,700 Palestinians issued visas after the 7 October terror attacks and the war with Hamas.

According to Amnesty International the policy will discriminate against people who are “migrating from places ruled by fundamentalists, extremists and dictators”, denying Australia’s historic commitment to compassion and humanity.

Photo source: AAP / Mick Tsikas