Ten questions, four parties, summarised from the public record — platforms, budget papers, press club addresses and ministerial statements — with the check date on the table. The Sovereign Australia column is deliberately open: the position is in development, and the one commitment already made is the data itself. Background: the immigration memo and the policy page.
Checked August 2026. Sources: 2026–27 Budget papers and Department of Home Affairs planning levels; ABS net overseas migration release, June 2026; party platforms and public statements as reported.
| Issue | Sovereign Australia | Labor | Coalition | One Nation | Greens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall migration level Federal | Position in development. | Wants net overseas migration lower; aiming for 225,000 a year over the next three years. Says migration is already down about 45 per cent from its peak. | No fixed cap committed, but has hinted at a target “well under 200,000”. Frames the plan as curbing “mass migration”. | A hard cap of 130,000 visas a year, to “ease pressure on housing, wages and infrastructure”. | The only party not proposing a cut to overall numbers. States Australia “benefits from immigration”. |
| Permanent program Federal | Position in development. | Capped at 185,000 places for 2026–27 — 132,240 of them (71 per cent) for skills. 129,590 places prioritised for people already in Australia. | Has not published a permanent program number of its own. | The 130,000 cap is stated as total visas rather than a permanent program figure. | No cut proposed; priority given instead to refugees and family reunion. |
| The link to housing Federal | Position in development. | Minister Burke says numbers must be “tailored” to housing supply, but warns going at migration the wrong way can make housing worse. Primary fix remains supply — construction workers, state incentives, social housing. | Would cap net overseas migration each year at the number of new homes completed the year before. “Australia should only bring in as many people as it can house.” | Directly links migration to the housing crisis; says it will cut demand for housing and rentals by “substantially” lowering immigration. | Rejects the migration–housing link altogether; points to renter protections, public and affordable supply, and taxing wealthy property investors. |
| International students Federal | Position in development. | A national planning level of 295,000 places for 2026, described as “managed” and “sustainable” growth. | Nationals leader Matt Canavan has called the student visa system a “total scam” needing to be “scaled back”; no figure confirmed. | Would close what it calls a “visa loophole” turning study into a “backdoor to permanent residency or low-wage labour”. | Not a major focus; rejects the claim that students drive the housing crisis, calling it scapegoating. |
| Values and visa conditions Federal | Position in development. | New visa refusal and cancellation powers relating to antisemitism, hate and extremism funded in the 2026–27 Budget. | An “Australian values migration plan” — a values statement covering freedom of religion, English as the national language and a “fair go”, made a legally binding visa condition, with removal for those who breach it. | Would refuse entry to migrants from nations it says foster “extremist ideologies” incompatible with Australian values. | No values test proposed. |
| Deportation and enforcement Federal | Position in development. | $167.4 million over four years for system integrity, migrant worker education and student visa scrutiny. | Has vowed a crackdown on “overstayers”, “unfounded asylum claims” and greater security screening of “high-risk individuals”. | Would deport 75,000 people it says are illegal migrants. | Opposes expanded removal powers; wants an end to offshore detention. |
| Citizenship and welfare access Federal | Position in development. | No change proposed to current waiting periods. | No separate waiting-period policy published. | An eight-year wait before new arrivals can access citizenship or welfare. | No change proposed; opposes lengthening waits. |
| Refugees and humanitarian intake Federal | Position in development. | Humanitarian program maintained at its current level. | No increase proposed. | Would withdraw from the UN Refugee Convention, arguing Australia should not be “dictated to by foreign organisations”. | Would expand the humanitarian intake to 50,000 places a year, end offshore detention, and stop families being separated by immigration processes. |
| Where the numbers actually sit Federal | Position in development. | Net overseas migration was 301,000 in 2025 (ABS), down from 306,000 — above Labor’s own target. Budget forecasts: 245,000 in 2026–27, 225,000 from 2027–28. | Argues current levels remain “unsustainable”. | Argues current levels remain “unsustainable”. | Argues the level is not the problem and that migrants are being scapegoated for a housing crisis they did not cause. |
| What is measured, and how Federal | The one commitment already made: live data. Arrivals, departures, visa holders by class and every Australian abroad, published as a running series on the Data & Metrics door instead of a quarterly figure reconciled months later. Policy set against what is actually happening, not a forecast. | Net overseas migration published quarterly by the ABS, with a substantial lag; arrivals and departures reconciled after the fact. | No measurement reform proposed. | No measurement reform proposed. | No measurement reform proposed. |
Every other column on this page states a number. Sovereign Australia does not, yet — and the reason is the last row. Australia sets migration policy against a figure the Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes quarterly, months after the fact, reconciled from arrivals and departures that were recorded at the border in real time. The country already collects the data; it simply does not publish it as it happens.
So the first commitment is the measurement, not the number: every arrival and departure, every visa holder by class and by region, every overstay, and every Australian living abroad, published as a running series on the Data & Metrics door of the People’s Portal. A government that can see the position weekly can set a policy that responds to it. A government reading a number from last quarter is steering by the rear-view mirror, and so is everyone arguing with it.
The rest of the position — the level, the streams, the enforcement settings — follows from the evidence rather than preceding it, and will be published here in full when it is settled. Background and the numbers so far: the immigration memo. The current policy page: Immigration.