Pauline Hanson's surging anti-immigration party has vowed to axe 750,000 temporary visas over three years as part of a "net-negative" migration policy, with international students to bear the brunt of the slashing.
"That type of cut would have a significant detrimental impact on our economic growth and on our prospects to deliver prosperity for all Australians," Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black told ABC Radio on Monday.
"The starting point for any conversation with respect to migration can't be simply having the objective of cutting numbers."
The Labor government and the opposition have propped up the economy through "mass migration", according to Senator Hanson, who is facing heat for saying in a 2025 podcast interview which resurfaced on Monday that Indigenous Australians are "the most primitive race on Earth".
As parliament restarts in Canberra for the final sitting week for a month, One Nation is seeking to capitalise on a surge in momentum in opinion polls this year, which have classed the populist party as most able to handle migration policy.
Mr Black said an ageing population and chronic shortages of essential workers meant Australia could not afford to turn swathes of skilled migrants away.
"Come 2060, we can expect a gap between revenue and expenditure of $140 billion a year ... one in three occupations reports a skills shortage," he said, citing treasury forecasts.
"Historically and into the future, Australia is going to need skilled migrants."
Senator Hanson said in a statement that universities would still be able to enrol more than 100,000 international students per year and the cut wouldn't impact regional worker schemes.
"They couldn't give a damn about the impact mass migration has had on everyday living standards of Australians," Senator Hanson said of the major parties in a video to social media.
The plan would aim to deliver three years of net-negative migration to bring the temporary migrant population down to levels not seen since 2017.
It would also "run a wrecking ball through the Australian economy", according to Labor MP Patrick Gorman, touting the importance of the education sector, which thanks to international students is the country's third-largest export.
"It has taken 30 years for Senator Hanson to put her migration policy together, and it has fallen apart in just 30 minutes," Mr Gorman said.
"It is a large export, and it's a way that we welcome people into Australia for a temporary period of time, so we can sell them an education product."
It's expected Labor is preparing to announce a revamped migration policy, after false starts including a last-minute cancellation of a National Press Club address by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in August over cabinet divisions.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his counterpart Angus Taylor met multiple times in the week to September to discuss cracking down on phoney asylum claims and student visa appeals, AAP understands.
Australia's net overseas migration fell to 301,000 in 2025, which was a 45 per cent decrease from the post-COVID peak in 2023 and down nine per cent from 2024.
13°C