{"id":878876,"date":"2026-09-03T20:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878876\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T20:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:54:19","slug":"australian-migration-policy-albanese-faces-dire-warnings-that-plan-risks-shuttering-hotels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878876\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian migration policy: Albanese faces dire warnings that plan risks shuttering hotels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paul<\/p>\n

September 4, 2026 \u2014 4:50am<\/p>\n

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing blowback from industry groups over his migration overhaul amid fears that regional pubs will shut down and food security will be compromised without enough foreign workers.<\/p>\n

As Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke scrambles to work out how to rein in migration without damaging the economy, junior international education minister Julian Hill has used new powers to kill a dodgy graduate diploma course being used by tens of thousands of international students to visa-hop and extend their stay by years.<\/p>\n

\"PrimePrime Minister Anthony Albanese pours a beer during the 2025 election campaign.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Labor is scrambling to bring net overseas migration from 300,000<\/a> down to its target of 225,000 after years of missed forecasts. A suite of changes to tighten up the system was abruptly delayed last month after ministers said the policy needed more work.<\/p>\n

One Nation and the Coalition are proposing large cuts to the inflow of migrants as fresh national accounts show the economy struggling to keep up with population growth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Separate to measures likely to be announced in coming weeks, this masthead revealed last month<\/a> that Labor had quietly paused working holidaymaker visa applications from 24 countries.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Working<\/a><\/p>\n

Two dozen peak bodies wrote to Albanese on Wednesday about those changes, which they said could hurt industries and test Australia\u2019s arrangement with Asian nations to provide fertiliser in return for food. Backpackers make up around 44 per cent of the horticultural peak harvest workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are collectively calling for immediate clarity on your government\u2019s intent concerning proposed reform of the [working holidaymaker] program, the extent and effect of current administrative actions, and a commitment to consult,\u201d the industry chiefs said.<\/p>\n

Groups including the National Farmers Federation, Council of Small Businesses of Australia, Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association, and a range of agricultural groups said the backpacker scheme performed a dual role.<\/p>\n

As tourists, they argued, working holidaymakers spent more time in regional areas than other visitors. As workers, the letter said, \u201crestaurants, cafes, hotels, pubs, catering operators, retail and the care sectors, including childcare and early learning, rely on [backpackers].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are precisely the services that make a regional community liveable,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The business groups\u2019 decision to unite against changes to backpacker visas reflects the economic trade-offs involved in the migration debate. This masthead previously reported that ministers were concerned about the effect of proposed changes on the budget bottom line and labour shortages in critical industries.<\/p>\n

Australian Hotels Association chief executive Stephen Ferguson said pubs and clubs relied on backpackers and international students because the system for training locals was broken. He criticised the government for de-prioritising hospitality training even though the sector contributed $74 million to the Skilling Australians Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they helped us train our own, we\u2019d be far less reliant on immigration at least as it relates to the kitchen, which is our chronic problem,\u201d he said, noting it took nine months to a year to bring a worker into the country after their application was approved.<\/p>\n

Cathal Leslie, a former economist at the Productivity Commission, rubbished the concerns of big business on Thursday, writing that Australia could drop the ATAR score required to study to be a doctor, increase wages for aged care nursing to attract locals and stop using cheap labour instead of innovating.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Home<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur lacklustre productivity performance has coincided with a migration program that is less skilled than advertised,\u201d he said in the Australian Financial Review, arguing for net negative migration.<\/p>\n

Backpackers have proved a divisive issue. Both the Nationals and One Nation have pledged to protect the streams of visitors<\/a> into regional areas.<\/p>\n

There is bipartisan support for moves to reduce the number of international students.<\/p>\n

Labor has been working behind the scenes to rein in student numbers, raising visa fees well above the peer nations to $2500 and rejecting a record-high 40 per cent of applications in the most recent time period.<\/p>\n

Hill used ministerial powers to cancel a graduate diploma course, the Graduate Diploma of Management, that has been used to game the visa system. His action on Thursday represented the first use of powers enacted by parliament last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Coalition left behind a shocking mess in 2022, with unsustainably high growth in student numbers in the least reputable parts of the sector, and our high-quality student visa being degraded into a low-rent illegal work visa and misused by shonks,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

Nearly half of Australia\u2019s 900 vocational education providers are now offering the course, which has no prerequisites. The government says its graduates add little to Australia\u2019s skilled workforce. Nearly half of the people who enrolled in the course \u2013 18,340 \u2013 did not study.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s statement of reasons claimed: \u201cHigh non-commencement rates among international students, low completion rates, significant course transfer activity, high visa refusal rates, and rapid growth that appears disconnected from demonstrated skills demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWidespread non-completion of the course may undermine confidence in the quality, purpose and reputation of Australia\u2019s education system.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are more than 41,000 international students enrolled in the course. Students will not automatically have their visas cancelled but will need to prove to officials how they plan to satisfy their visa conditions.<\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"PaulPaul Sakkal<\/a> is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 4, 2026 \u2014 4:50am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-878876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}