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September 17, 2026
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
SENATOR FOR VICTORIA
TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW
NEWS24 FIRST EDITION WITH PETE STEFANOVIC
Thursday, 17 September 2026
Topics: Migration policy, Senate says stop defence estate fire sale
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………
PETE STEFANOVIC: Joining us now Shadow Defence Minister, the Victorian Senator James Paterson. James, good to see you this morning. So, we'll start with the cohorts the government wants to target first. So again, students, visa overstayers. A lot of this is similar to One Nation's plan, by the way, but let's get your thoughts on this.
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think we should start with the numbers. And the most extraordinary thing from the media reporting today that we understand is that Tony Burke is not announcing a cut in migration. He's not even announcing a reduction in numbers. In fact, they're just saying they're going to implement some new policies to deliver the numbers they've been promising to deliver for years but have failed to do so. They're only going to bring migration, which is right now this year above 300,000 in net overseas terms, down to 245,000. Which is exactly what they promised in the budget, and eventually down to 225,000. That's far too high. And I think what has been demonstrated by this whole saga is the government's heart is not really in it. They don't really want to reduce migration numbers. They don't really think it has been unsustainable and out of control. And all of this is just window dressing.
STEFANOVIC: Well, the government's found a way to blame you though, James. Tony Burke's saying he could have gone further. No, he said he could've gone further if he had the support of the Coalition. So has now opted for a watered down approach. So, this plan B is apparently your fault.
PATERSON: Well, if the government was actually serious about reducing numbers and lifting standards, then we could have worked with them, and we provided a list of suggestions and ideas - about 10 proposals - that would have given a really strong package that actually would have reduced those numbers and lifted those standards. But the government wasn't interested in our ideas. They were unwilling to contemplate the vast majority of our suggestions. And it is only their fault what has happened over the last four and a half years. They've made choices. They've made policy choices that have allowed these extraordinary numbers of people to come in at a totally unsustainable rate while we are failing to build enough houses to accommodate them and the existing Australian population. And it is no wonder that rents are skyrocketing, that housing affordability has gone backwards and Australians feel like the system is out of control and not serving their interests anymore.
STEFANOVIC: So what key suggestions did you bring up and will they form part of your policy when it's announced?
PATERSON: Well, many of the things we've put forward, and I'll let my colleague Jonno Duniam go through them in more detail, but many of the things that we've put forward are things we've advocated before. For example, making it a criminal act to assist an ISIS member to return to Australia. Now, I would have thought that any Australian government, which says it wants to stop these ISIS members returning from Australia, would embrace an idea like that. But they haven't. Other proposals include actually matching, as we've said we would do, the housing numbers to the migration intake to allow the housing market to catch up. The government is not interested...
STEFANOVIC: There's no firm target numbers in all of that, though?
PATERSON: Well, we've said that you can look at the current housing completion rates, which are about 170,000 a year, and our view is that the net overseas migration rate will have to be below that because the housing market needs time to catch up.
STEFANOVIC: Ok. But what about international students and their families, the family visas, visa overstayers, those who are here unlawfully, as One Nation pointed out this week, there's about 80,000 of them here. Are they good ideas?
PATERSON: Well, we've already said that we have to deal with the visa overstayers. It's extraordinary that we now have almost 80,000 people in this country who have no legal right to be here. And the government over the last four years has seen that number grow, not reduce. They don't appear to be taking any real efforts to remove those people from this country. And that is just one category of the problem and one section of the visa system that's not working. So again, if we thought the government was sincere about this, if they really wanted to address these problems, of course we would work with them. But you can't work with a government that can't even agree with itself. I mean poor Tony Burke has been rolled half a dozen times by the Cabinet. He's been publicly humiliated by the Prime Minister. Forced to cancel his National Press Club address. Then had policy announcements that were reversed by the Prime Minister within 24 hours, like reducing the asylum seeker number intake. Finally, he's booked in a Press Club Address, but I suspect he has lost again around the Cabinet table. Surely Tony Burke wanted to announce a lower migration number? Obviously, he has lost that fight with Jim Chalmers. Maybe Jim has had a one win around the cabinet table for the first time in a while.
STEFANOVIC: When do we get your policy?
PATERSON: Well, we're going to do our policy properly. It's going to be a policy we can actually deliver on, unlike the government. And it's a policy that's going to be properly costed, unlike One Nation. It is very advanced in its development and you won't have long to wait.
STEFANOVIC: Not long, what's that, weeks, months?
PATERSON: I'm not going to put a time on it. It's not my portfolio, not my place to do that, but you won't ...
STEFANOVIC: But I mean, do you let Labor and do you let One Nation kind of dominate discourse until then?
PATERSON: Well, I'm less interested in who dominates the discourse and I'm more interested in who solves the problem. We know the government can't solve the problem because they have no interest in solving it. We know One Nation can't solve the problem because they haven't done the work and they don't have the detail. I mean, they haven't even had their policy costed. They cannot tell you what impact it would have on the budget. They cannot tell you what impact it will have on the economy. That is not a serious approach to public policy making nor is Labor's insincere, pretend efforts to get migration down.
STEFANOVIC: James, we've got to go, but just a quick one that jumped out at me today, I'll just get your thoughts on. A parliamentary review of the Albanese Government's plan to sell off military sites is demanding the scheme be shelved. Have you got a thought on that?
PATERSON: Absolutely. This is the Senate saying to the government, stop. Stop the sell-off of our military heritage. Stop the damage you're doing to our current military capability by flogging off up to 67 sites of some of our most important military bases around Australia. I have a petition on my website that now has more than 82,000 signatures of Australians who are saying it doesn't make sense to sell off Victoria Barracks Sydney or HMAS Penguin or Fort Queenscliff or Irwin Barracks in Western Australia. These are critical to our current military capability. They are replace less items of our history and the government must stop this reckless sale.
STEFANOVIC: All right, James Paterson, thanks as always for your time. Appreciate it.
ENDS