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Treasurer Jim Chalmers has described the opposition leader’s budget reply proposing migration cuts as an “unhinged and risky rant”.
In his speech on Thursday night, Peter Dutton said, if elected, the Coalition would cut the number of permanent visas granted in the next two years to 140,000.
The current permanent migration cap, set by the government, is 185,000, down from 190,000 the year before.
Mr Dutton said he would impose a cap of 140,000 for two years, then 150,000 in year three and 160,000 in year four. The cohort includes people with family visas, humanitarian visas and skilled visas.
He also confirmed he wants to reduce the humanitarian intake from 20,000 to 13,750. When asked by how much family and skilled visa positions would be reduced, he said the ideal make-up would be two-thirds skilled and one-third family visas.
“You can calibrate that at different points in time, you can move the dial depending on the skills, shortage or demand within the economy.
“You can increase the number of intake through the partner visa program or family, their judgements to make at the time as to what is required for the economy.”
Mr Chalmers said when the government released the budget on Tuesday night, it formally announced a cutting back of its permanent migration intake.
“We come to these decisions in a considerate and methodical way, not just when we’re scratching around for something to say in a budget reply speech on a Thursday night,” Mr Chalmers said.
“And this unhinged and risky rant that we saw from Peter Dutton was long on nasty negativity and short of economic credibility.”
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Sparse nuclear detail Giles’s fault, Dutton says
Also in his reply, Mr Dutton reaffirmed the Coalition’s support for nuclear power.
Despite expectations a policy proposal would be released before the federal budget, he did not use the speech to outline suggested locations or whether government funding would be required.
“We hold the largest deposits of uranium on the planet … With nuclear power, we can maximise the highest yield of energy per square metre and minimise environmental damage,” he said.
“We do that by putting new nuclear technologies on or near the brownfield sites of decommissioned or retiring coal-fired power plants using the existing grid.”
When pushed on a further breakdown of the party’s nuclear energy policy the morning after his speech, Mr Dutton said he hadn’t released details on it because of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. He noted recent immigration issues, that have recently plagued the government.
“To be honest, one of [the] big problems has been Andrew Giles,” he said.
“One of the golden rules in politics is to not get in the way of your opponent when they’re making a complete fool of themself, and there hasn’t been much free air, I’ve got to say, over the last couple of weeks.”
