Home affairs minister Tony Burke has defended the time Labor has taken to release its immigration plan, attributing the delay to the complexity of the visa system and suggesting the Coalition "might have more of an appetite for legislation."
Burke responds to criticism over delay
Appearing on ABC's 7.30 program on Thursday after the plan's release, Burke was asked "what took you so long," given he had been scheduled to speak at the National Press Club six weeks earlier. He said Labor had spent time "working through all the policy issues" and navigating the visa system was complex.
"Every part of the economy is affected by immigration these days for Australia, and so … dealing with the challenges we’ve got with housing supply, which is not immigration’s fault, but immigration needs to be part of the answer, to do that in a way that has the softest landing for the economy is something you’ve got to get right," Burke said.
Coalition's stance and preconditions
Opposition leader Angus Taylor told 7.30 that the Coalition had "laid out what we needed as preconditions in order to be able to work with the government and they couldn’t meet the preconditions."
"The numbers are too high and what we’ve seen from the government today is no cut to the numbers ... We are a great immigrant nation. Make no mistake about it. But immigration needs to be capped based on the housing supply, the infrastructure, the services we have, and that has not been the case in recent years," Taylor said.
Impact on policy and housing
The exchange highlights ongoing political friction over immigration policy, with Labor emphasizing economic integration and the Coalition pressing for caps tied to housing and infrastructure. The plan's release comes amid national debates on housing supply, with Burke noting immigration is not responsible for housing shortages but must be factored into solutions.
