One Nation’s plan to reduce Australia’s temporary migration program by 750,000 places over three years has drawn opposition from the university sector, according to ABC News. The proposal would include a two-thirds reduction in student visas and changes affecting families of skilled migrants.
Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, said the policy could discourage high-achieving international students from choosing Australia. She argued that reducing international education would shrink a major export and weaken the country’s research capacity.
The migration proposal was part of a wider day of federal political debate involving One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Indigenous senator Malarndirri McCarthy condemned comments by Hanson about Indigenous Australians, while government and opposition figures also criticised remarks concerning the prime minister’s mother and Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie.
The Senate voted to establish an inquiry into an invitation-only grants program that provided $6 million to Marrickville Golf Club, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had an undeclared honorary membership. The inquiry will examine the program’s project selection process, the roles of the prime minister, ministers and MPs, and any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest.
It will also consider whether the ministerial code of conduct was breached. The grants program involved 220 other projects and formed part of a broader $560 million sporting and community fund that the ABC said had prompted concerns about political targeting of marginal seats.
The Greens, Coalition, One Nation and senators Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock supported the inquiry, which is due to report by mid-October. Separately, the Coalition unsuccessfully sought to delay Labor’s private health insurance legislation, which would reduce the rebate for people aged 65 and over and is expected to save about $3 billion.