{"id":391791,"date":"2026-04-14T16:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/391791\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:18:13","slug":"what-is-in-angus-taylors-new-immigration-plan-and-is-it-inspired-by-trumps-approach-in-the-us-angus-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/391791\/","title":{"rendered":"What is in Angus Taylor\u2019s new immigration plan, and is it inspired by Trump\u2019s approach in the US? | Angus Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coalition<\/a> is promising a crackdown on migration and an emphasis on \u201cAustralian values\u201d in determining the country\u2019s migrant intake in a controversial new immigration plan.<\/p>\n

The hardline plan, which many critics have described as Trumpian in nature, is Angus Taylor\u2019s first major policy offering since he ousted his predecessor Sussan Ley in February.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in the policy?<\/p>\n

The two biggest takeaways from the Coalition\u2019s policy are that it would enforce the Australian values statement as part of a visa\u2019s conditions and increase the social media screening of visa applicants.<\/p>\n

Other parts of the plan include:<\/p>\n

The introduction of a \u201csafe countries\u201d list, with citizens of those nations banned from seeking asylum.<\/p>\n

The reintroduction of temporary protection visas<\/a>, which were abolished by Labor in 2023.<\/p>\n

An increase in funding for law enforcement to deport people who have had their asylum seeker applications rejected and have exhausted legal appeal avenues.<\/p>\n

A requirement that visa holders learn English when arriving in Australia.<\/p>\n

The Coalition has also promised to review the visas of 1,700 people from Gaza \u2013 some of whom are already in Australia \u2013 who were granted protection after the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel.<\/p>\n

What is the values statement and how can it be \u201cenforced\u201d?<\/p>\n

Most temporary, provisional and permanent visa applicants must sign the Australian values statement.<\/p>\n

It is a declaration that the applicant will conduct themselves in accordance with Australian values: respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual; freedom of religion; commitment to the rule of law; parliamentary democracy; equality; and a \u201cfair go\u201d for all.<\/p>\n

The Coalition is proposing to make the values in that statement a legal condition of a visa. Making the values statement a visa condition over a declaration for entry would effectively lower the threshold to deport a visa holder if they breach one of the values.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear whether that statement would be rewritten to tighten the language, or what would constitute a clear breach of the values \u2013 which are broad.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Visa applicants already face a character test to gain a visa, and then have to meet that test as long as they continue to hold a visa. Currently, a visa holder can face mandatory deportation if convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months\u2019 imprisonment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government also already has the power to reject a visa if there are concerns a person\u2019s presence could broadly \u201cincite discord\u201d within the Australian community or a part of it. This power has been used in several recent high profile cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How is this plan different to the existing legislation?<\/p>\n

Taylor says all visa applicants would need to provide their social media as \u201ca standard feature of vetting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Border authorities have the power to request access to social media accounts for visa applicants or holders. But the Coalition policy proposes to increase that social media vetting, while empowering law enforcement agencies to monitor accounts.<\/p>\n

Australian National University professor Alan Gamlen questioned how different the new rules are.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] is a bit thin on substance and quite big on symbolics \u2026 There are really pretty strong powers available to the government in the migration act that it has shown willingness to use over time,\u201d Gamlen says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s questionable whether what the Coalition is proposing here will really be a substantive improvement or increase on those already existing measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

What details are missing? <\/p>\n

The Coalition has not released a list of countries where citizens would be banned from seeking asylum in Australia.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood those countries would be determined by relevant government departments and agencies based on a state\u2019s human rights records \u2013 which could change over time \u2013 so that list may never be known unless the Coalition wins government and implements the policy.<\/p>\n

While we know the threshold to remove visa holders would effectively be reduced by enforcing the values statement, where that threshold lies is unclear. The Coalition has not detailed the types of breaches to the value of the \u201cfair go\u201d or \u201creligious freedom\u201d that would constitute deportation.<\/p>\n

For example, while there is currently mandatory deportation for a visa holder sentenced to more than 12 months\u2019 imprisonment, it is unclear what level criminal activity would count as a breach of the value \u201ccommitment to the rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n

What are the numbers?<\/p>\n

Taylor says there are about 65,000 people who have had asylum applications rejected and exhausted all legal appeal avenues, that should leave the country immediately.<\/p>\n

There are more than 104,000 people who are now in Australia who have had their application for a protection visa rejected.\u00a0Of that number there are about 39,000 people who are currently appealing that decision at the administrative appeals tribunal.<\/p>\n

But there are two other big numbers: net overseas migration and international student intake.<\/p>\n

Taylor said in his speech on Tuesday that the Coalition\u2019s \u201cbroader agenda\u201d will bring \u201cthe numbers down to a sustainable level\u201d, but the precise numbers will be announced later.<\/p>\n

Is this policy inspired by US president Donald Trump\u2019s approach?<\/p>\n

There are some similarities to Trump administration\u2019s policy, says Gamlen, including the blanket banning of countries from which people can seek asylum.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s an \u201cecho\u201d of the Muslim country ban, where a government would treat an individual \u201con the basis of their group identity\u201d instead of their individual claim to asylum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s concerning to see that type of thinking about migration policies, having watch lists and blacklists floating over from Trump land, from a country that is really in crisis on many fronts when it comes to immigration,\u201d Gamlen says.<\/p>\n

The Coalition\u2019s social media rules also follow a similar policy implemented by the Trump administration in December.<\/p>\n

Taylor was asked on Tuesday whether his plan to fund law enforcement to \u201cidentify, deport and remove unlawful non-citizens\u201d would look similar to ICE agents taking people off the streets to deport them. The opposition leader said his plan is \u201ctalking about a very different thing\u201d but said \u201cwe should use whatever resources we have to make sure they leave the country\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Coalition is promising a crackdown on migration and an emphasis on \u201cAustralian values\u201d in determining the country\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-391791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}