Peter Dutton pretends to want to cut immigration

After previously promising deep migration cuts, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Sunday that the Coalition will not set net migration targets until after the federal election, which must be held before 17 May.

However, Dutton did recommit to reducing Australia’s permanent migration rate from 185,000 to 140,000, as he had outlined in his budget reply speech in May.

“We’ll have a look at the economic settings when we come to government”, he said. “What we’ve said is that we want our [permanent] migration program to step down in the first two years”.