My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Farrell. In light of Minister Burke's policy announcements at the Press Club today about the urgent need to bring immigration numbers down, why did the then home affairs minister, Clare O'Neil, say in September of 2022, 'Almost everyone agrees with Labor that immigration numbers into Australia need to rise.' She said, 'It is one of the biggest levers we have to drive our country forward, and Australia should pull it.' Indeed, why did the net overseas migration number then soar to an unprecedented figure of over 500,000 in the year 2022-23?

I thank Senator Duniam for his question. The recent history that you're referring to regarding migration occurred for this reason. We had the period of COVID, where migration into this country virtually ceased. When we came to government, we discovered that there were about a million unprocessed visa applications to come to this country. The government set about processing and catching up on those numbers. You had a situation for a long period of time when the migration figure was very low. Those people were granted their visa applications and the numbers went up. But, since that time, the government has been working to try and get the numbers in balance. And so, over that period of time that you're talking about, numbers have decreased by about 45 per cent.

As a person who has always supported migration in this country, I've been disappointed in the recent debate about migration. I think migrants have done a wonderful job for this country, and, overwhelmingly, migrants who come to this country are a net benefit to Australia. What I think has happened in recent times is that the issue of migration has been politicised and people have blamed migrants for issues for which migrants— (Time expired)

Senator Duniam, first supplementary?

By December 2023, Labor's migration strategy was warning of a growing cohort of migrants living in what it called 'permanent temporariness'. The strategy specifically identified former international students who repeatedly moved between temporary visas despite having little prospect of obtaining permanent residency. Why, after almost three years of articulating but not acting on that problem, is the government only today recycling measures that it has constantly neglected to use to tackle this phenomenon?

I thank Senator Duniam for his first supplementary question. My colleague Senator Watt just advised me about the figure I used in my first answer of a 45 per cent drop in the number. In fact, today, new figures from the ABS show that the figure was actually 47 per cent. So the numbers have fallen. In those circumstances that you talk about, Senator, the reason the numbers have been falling is that we have been doing something about pushing those numbers down. We accept the proposition that, in the current environment— (Time expired)

Senator Duniam, second supplementary.

Precisely how many people have moved from a temporary graduate visa back onto a student visa since the Albanese government announced in December 2023 that it was committed to stopping that practice?

I thank Senator Duniam for his second supplementary question. This obviously is not my portfolio area. I shall approach the minister and seek an accurate answer to that question.