Australia Talks About Fewer Migrants, but Big Employers Say They Still Need Overseas Workers

News · 2026-08-21 · 4 min read

If you are dreaming of a job in Australia, you may have seen news about the country cutting back on migration. There is another side to that story, though. Some of Australia's largest employers are warning that reducing skilled migration right now could hold back the very projects their economy relies on. Let us walk through what is being proposed, what industry is saying, and what has already shifted.

What the Politicians Are Putting Forward

Several ideas are on the table, and they come from different parties:

The federal government is considering fresh limits. One of them is a plan for the families of skilled migrants to be processed offshore instead of together with the main applicant.
The opposition's shadow housing minister suggested “modest” cuts aimed at backpackers and international students. Reports say this surprised his own colleagues, because the idea had not gone through the wider shadow cabinet first.
One Nation wants the permanent migration program brought down from 185,000 places today to roughly 130,000. The party has not said which visa categories would carry those cuts, apart from the roughly 75,000 people it says are already in Australia without authorisation. Party leader Pauline Hanson has openly said a national “breather” matters more to her than what business is worried about.

Why Employers Say Overseas Talent Is Still Essential

Business groups see things very differently. For the Australian Industry Group's head, Innes Willox, it comes down to competition: other countries are also trying to attract skilled people, so a less friendly system could send talent somewhere else. He has named big construction work, including Queensland's Olympic infrastructure, as jobs that simply cannot be filled without migrant workers.

Mining and resources employers agree. The Minerals Council estimates the sector needs around 40,000 more migrant workers over the next three years just to keep current and approved projects moving. Its chief executive says the part of the workforce coming from overseas has more than doubled since 2021, and yet there are still not enough people. Industry leaders in Western Australia say migrant workers matter more to that state's economy than anywhere else in the country, and that falling behind now would be hard to fix later.

Here is an interesting detail: mining figures have kept politics and policy apart. A major mining donor supports One Nation, yet the industry still speaks up against that party's migration position whenever it clashes with what the workforce needs.

A Change You Can Already See: Slower Working Holiday Visas

While the big proposals grab the headlines, one change has already arrived. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed that working holiday visa applications are now moving more slowly than before, though he did not explain why. Business groups say this deserves more attention than it gets, because temporary workers and backpackers fill important, flexible roles in regional areas and on farms. Permanent migration does not cover those gaps.

Burke also connected the slowdown to another matter. Stronger protections for workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme have reportedly led some employers to turn to backpackers instead. In his words, this workaround defeats the whole point of those protections.

Housing Worries Versus Long-Term Needs

Underneath it all is a tug-of-war. On one end is short-term political pressure, much of it about how hard it is to afford a home. On the other is the country's long-term economic capacity. Industry groups are not brushing off the housing issue. What they are asking is for policymakers to treat it as a separate question from whether Australia can staff its infrastructure pipeline, its resources sector and its regional economy without continued access to migrant workers.

So far, no side has released a fully detailed plan for migration numbers. That means businesses are making plans around uncertainty rather than settled policy.

A Practical Word for Workers Planning Their Move

For workers from the Philippines and elsewhere, the best response is to stay calm and stay informed. None of these proposals has become a final rule. Your skills and experience, whether gained back home or while working in the Middle East, are still worth building on. Keep your documents in order, follow updates from official government sources, and be careful with anyone who claims to know exactly what the new rules will be. Kaya mo ’yan!

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