Labor’s Immigration Cuts Are Incoherent, Fix Nothing, and Will Only Boost Pauline Hanson

Let’s make a couple of things very clear about the federal government’s newly announced immigration cuts and plans to ramp up the detention and deportation of migrants.

Firstly, it is primarily driven by a political strategy attempting to stem the loss of Labor voters to One Nation. It is not, despite what Labor politicians and sections of the media are trying to claim, some kind of thought-through, well-calibrated set of reforms that make our immigration system “fairer” or more “sustainable” in the long term.

Secondly, it simply won’t work. Worse than that, it’s an announcement that cedes the entire political terrain to One Nation and ensures Australia remains locked in a political debate over immigration policy until the next election.

That is something One Nation has been trying its hardest to manufacture. Now they have pulled it off, thanks to Labor losing its nerve and taking the same failed approach that centre-left leaders across Europe have, something that has only accelerated their decline — the most notable example being former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.