Australia to Tighten Immigration Requirements

Facts

The Australian government has announced plans to cut the number of new immigrants by half in less than two years, in an effort to improve the country's "broken" immigration system. The government hopes to reduce the yearly intake to 250K by June 2025. ¹
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neill told reporters on Monday that Australia would tighten visa requirements for international students and low-skilled workers to bring immigration back to pre-pandemic levels. ²
In order to slash the annual immigration intake from a record high of 510K down to 250K, international students will soon need to pass a more rigorous English language test and workers with low skills will be turned away. Australia will only accept those who can help support skills needed in the national job market. ³
According to O'Neil, "We are lifting standards for international students and ensuring that they are actually here to (learn) and not to work." She went on to say, "This is critical to restoring integrity and trust in the system." ⁴
The sharp increase in the number of applications in recent years has worsened the acute housing shortages in the nation, and increased pressure on the rental market. ⁵
The government's new, more stringent policies, have appeared generally favorable to the public. According to a Sydney Morning Herald survey conducted on Monday, 62% of Australian voters thought that the nation's immigration intake was too high.⁶

Left narrative, as provided by The Sydney Morning Herald. This decision was made out of necessity. Australia is experiencing an unprecedented housing crisis. The population growth rate has increased by 39 percent this century (+7.4 million), while investment has fallen, driving up rents and increasing the number of people living in group housing. More Australians are being driven into homelessness. Given this context, fine-tuning immigration numbers to calibrate for economic needs is a smart move by the labor-focused Albanese administration.
Right narrative, as provided by 1 News. This strategy, which aims to reduce net migration by 250K people, lacks an end goal and a timeframe for completion. In essence, the strategy is unserious. The plan does not state how the government will accomplish this reduction in four or five years. The Albanese government just keeps saying that it is committed to reducing net migration but has no idea how it will achieve this, which is further complicated by the fact that the administration states that skilled migrant labor is needed in Australia's economy. This policy needs better focus.
Nerd narrative, as provided by Metaculus. There is a 53% chance that Australia will enter a recession before 2026, according to the Metaculus prediction community.