An Australian Liberal frontbencher’s suggestion that net migration under 180,000 is “achievable” with cuts to backpackers and international students is unauthorized and does not reflect an agreed position of Angus Taylor’s shadow cabinet.
ABC reports that while speaking to the National Press Club about the opposition’s policy to link net migration to housing competitions, moderate Andrew Bragg said a figure in that order would be enough to close the housing “shortfall” of recent years and was “manageable”.
But several senior opposition sources, including frontbenchers, told the ABC this was not an agreed position and that Mr Taylor’s shadow cabinet had not yet decided which visa programs would be the focus of any cuts.
In a wide-ranging speech, Senator Bragg also said his own party had “contributed” to the country’s “malaise” and that leaders over the past two decades had been “indolent”, including “the custodians of liberalism” in his own party.
The confusion over migration within opposition ranks comes a week after ABC revealed that the government was also working through protracted discussions over how best to address rising public hostility to migration.
