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September 17, 2026
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
SENATOR FOR VICTORIA
TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT HOUSE
Thursday, 17 September 2026
Topics: Migration policy
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………
JOURNALIST: James, since what's been dropped out so far. Are you confident Labor can hit its net overseas migration target?
PATERSON: Absolutely not. Labor's heart is just not in this and from everything we've seen today, they're not even trying to reduce migration any further from the targets they already have in the budget which they've failed to meet. They're only proposing to bring migration down to 245,000 this year in net overseas terms and 225,000 in subsequent years. Those numbers are far too high and they're numbers Labor couldn't even deliver previously. I have no confidence they will now with these very limited measures forecast in the media this morning.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, he said that there's only so much he can do without legislative reform. Obviously, you would be the natural partner to get that done. Are the numbers the real sticking point here? If they don't change, you're just kind of out of the equation?
PATERSON: Certainly, Labor's unwillingness to reduce migration numbers in any meaningful way is a big part of the problem. But also frankly we doubt their genuine sincerity in trying to do this. It's been clear from the fact that the ideas we put forward to them were pretty much universally dismissed. That their heart is not in this. That they actually don't want to get migration numbers down. That they don't actually want to lift migration standards up and therefore it's very hard to work with them. Frankly, they can't even agree among themselves. This proposal has been to cabinet half a dozen times. Tony Burke has been publicly humiliated and rolled multiple times by his colleagues including the Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: There's a report in the paper today that the Coalition will aim for a number of 150,000. Can you confirm that? Is that in the ballpark of the number you're looking at?
PATERSON: Well, Angus Taylor has already said that we want to match migration intake to housing completions and housing completions are about 170,000 a year so it would certainly have to be below that number to allow the housing market to catch up. We'll be releasing our full policy. We'll be demonstrating that it's a comprehensive policy that can fix this problem and we're providing the costings with it so that people can understand the budget and economic impact of it. Unlike One Nation who failed to do so and unlike the government who's not serious about doing so. Thank you.
ENDS