» Peter Dutton to cut Australia migration by 100,000 each year

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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has committed to cutting new migrant numbers by 100,000 people each year, reinstating an ambitious target that the Coalition had previously walked away from.

Dutton on Wednesday said the Coalition would impose the cuts “straight away, once we get into government” based on whatever the budget forecasts were, as he aimed to bring down population growth to free up housing for Australians.

But the significant reduction could provoke backlash from businesses, industry groups and farmers who rely on migrant labour and fear the economic impact.

Based on Labor’s budget forecast that there will be a net increase of 260,000 migrants next financial year, the Coalition’s target would be 160,000 net arrivals – the same figure the opposition dumped in December in favour of a more “realistic” number.

Dutton made the commitment under questioning from this masthead during a press conference in the western Sydney seat of McMahon. The opposition had not outlined a target for net migration since abandoning the 160,000 target that Dutton had revealed after the 2024 budget.

Dutton has been campaigning on his plan to reduce permanent migration by 25 per cent, but this is a less contentious aim, as permanent migrants are often people already in Australia.

Net overseas migration, on the other hand, measures the total number of arrivals who increase the population, including students and skilled workers who stay for a set time. Those arrivals have been a political headache for the Albanese government, as numbers have significantly exceeded its forecasts each year and have only more recently started to stabilise.

Asked whether he was still committed to cutting net migration by about 100,000 people, Dutton said: “Yes … We can reduce the NOM [net overseas migration figure] by 100,000 … Straightaway, once we get into government, we can deal with Labor’s mess.”