The Coalition remains strongly committed to an immigration policy which is wholly non-discriminatory on grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender and religion.

Objective case-by-case assessment of individual and family applications against clear legal criteria will form the basis for migrant selection.

The Coalition is committed to restoring the Australian community’s confidence in the migration program. The Coalition will continue to run the program in the national interest, so that all enjoy the many benefits that a well-focussed program brings to the country.

While maintaining family reunion and refugee/humanitarian entry as central parts of the program, the Coalition will continue to ensure there is a balance between non-economic and economic components of the program.

The Coalition will maintain English language competency as a mandatory requirement for migrants entering under all skilled migration categories.

To build a stronger Australia, the Coalition has increased the level of skilled entry from less than 30 per cent of the total migration program under Labor, to more than 50 per cent in the first two years of this government.

In government, the Coalition significantly enhanced the Business Skills category, attracting 5,800 business migrants in 1996-97, compared to 2,400 in 1994-95. Business migrants have created on average six new Australian jobs and injected over $1 billion into the economy in the last financial year.

In line with a 1996 election commitment to encourage a more balanced dispersal of Australia’s migrant intake, the Coalition will continue to ensure that states and territories have every opportunity to attract skilled migrants. This will enhance regional development and generate a flow-on of employment opportunities.

The Coalition will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the Employer Awareness Campaign to ensure that only people with proper work rights can gain employment during their stay in Australia.

The Coalition is committed to controlling the movement of people to and from Australia. It committed more than $12 million to enhance the integrity of Australia’s border control.

The Coalition introduced initiatives to support Australia’s tourism industry and will further improve Australia’s visa system, while ensuring the integrity of Australia's border controls is maintained.

The Coalition has introduced the Electronic Travel Authority (ETAs) to 29 countries since its introduction in 1996. More than 54 major airlines and in excess of 20,000 travel agents have asked to access ETAs. More than 70 per cent of all visitors to Australia now come on an ETA. The government will extend the ETA to Hong Kong and Taiwan in July 1999, and will investigate other high-volume, low-risk markets.

In government, the Coalition has improved screening to deny possible war criminals, people associated with organised crime, and ‘gang’ members, entry to Australia. The Coalition will reintroduce to the parliament a bill to increase the government’s power to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern or whose visas were obtained by fraudulent or false declarations.

The Coalition supports the mandatory detention of illegal immigrants. The Coalition will minimise detention periods either by removing illegal entrants as quickly as possible or by regularising their status according to the law.

In line with this commitment, the Immigration Detention Centre at Villawood will undergo a major redevelopment in 1998-99. The upgrade of facilities at the detention centre in Port Hedland also has been completed.

In government, the Coalition will continue to press for legislation to ensure that access to the courts for review of tribunal decisions be restricted in all but exceptional circumstances.

The Coalition also is strongly committed to a non-discriminatory Refugee and Humanitarian program to help people who have faced serious abuses of their human rights. It will be maintained as a separate program with 12,000 places.

The Coalition will consider economic, social and environmental factors as well as our international obligations before determining Australia’s migration program, which will be designed after wide-ranging community consultations.

In government, Labor was responsible for Australians’ loss of confidence in the migration program by the Australian community.

Labor pandered to interest groups and ceased to target the program to the national interest.

Former ALP Minister, the Hon. Barry Jones, said:

For 13 years, Labor set high yearly intakes with little thought or direction,

The Coalition has ensured that the migration program was properly administered and structured to deliver the best outcome for Australia and the Australian community.

The program is smaller and better focussed on skilled migration (now constituting 52 per cent of the program), while still ensuring the entry of genuine family members (forming 45 per cent of the migrant intake).

According to an independent study undertaken by the economic consultants Econtech, the Coalition’s policies have resulted in an increase in the skill level of the Australian workforce. Econtech’s Economic impact of Changes in the Migration Program between 1995-96 and 1997-98 also shows that Australians will be $95 a person a year better off if the current size and composition of the migration program is maintained till 2007-08. This saving could not be realised if Labor’s 1995-96 migration program had remained.

In 1997-98 the Coalition delivered a migration program at 67,100 places, close to its target of 68,000. The humanitarian program was on target at 12,055 places.

To restore confidence in the integrity of the immigration program, the Coalition:

Migrants from some 200 countries have helped Australia forge a peaceful and stable liberal democratic society. Almost one-quarter of all Australians was born overseas. More than 2 million came originally from non-English speaking regions.

The Coalition takes pride in our diverse and tolerant nation.

It was a Coalition government that presided over the arrival in Australia of millions of migrants in the 1950s, 1960s, late 1970s, and early 1980’s.

Coalition governments opened up large-scale immigration from continental Europe, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and more recently Asia and the Pacific.

The Coalition has resettled millions of people from war ravaged regions around the world.

The pressures on Australia’s migration program will become greater. The Coalition will respond to them by administering an immigration program that:

The Coalition will administer its immigration program in an open and publicly accountable manner, and strengthen consultative mechanisms.

The Coalition will balance the humanitarian, family and economic components of the program.

Migrants will be selected by an objective, case-by-case assessment of applications against clear legal criteria.

Tough bona-fide measures will limit abuse of the program.

The Coalition reserves the right to vary the level and mix of the immigration program in response to changing economic, social, environmental, political and humanitarian requirements.

The Coalition will examine the recommendations of a commonwealth/state/territory working party, due to report in 1999, which is considering options to increase the number of skilled migrants in regional areas.

The Coalition will continue to ensure that each year’s migration targets are not exceeded and will use administrative mechanisms, including capping visa classes, to contain the intake.

To maintain community confidence in the administration of the immigration program, the Coalition will continue to emphasise accountability and procedural reform.

While acknowledging the constitutional guarantee of a review of administrative decisions, the Coalition will curb the number of applicants who seek to abuse the review process, simply to prolong their stay in Australia, by reintroducing legislation in the Senate to restrict access to judicial review in all but exceptional circumstances.

The Coalition also will reintroduce legislation, delayed in the Senate, to streamline the two-tier review process of non-refugee visa decisions to a single review by an independent review agency, the Migration Review Tribunal.

Coalition immigration policy, while being focussed on Australia's economic well being, will acknowledge our commitment to the family through family reunion. It also will take account of our international responsibilities for refugee and humanitarian programs.

The Family Reunion program will continue to have as its primary focus the reunion of close family members including spouses and partners, dependent children and orphaned relatives, parents and last remaining relatives.

Applicants in the Skilled Australian-Linked category will have to meet the skill and English language requirements of the independent skilled category though family connection will remain a criterion for entry.

The introduction of tough bona fides testing of family entrants has resulted in a dramatic decline of fraud and rorting in this category.

Parent migration will be capped at 2,500 and new measures also will be introduced to give priority to parents supported by family members in Australia.

Serial spouse sponsorship has been significantly curbed. Individual spouse sponsors are now limited to two spouse sponsorships, a minimum of 5 years apart, other than in exceptional circumstances.

The Coalition introduced measures to begin on 1 November 1998 to increase the Assurances of Support bond. Other measures due to come into effect on 1 November 1998 will ensure that sponsors are more responsible for their undertakings to look after family members they sponsor. The health services charge also will be increased.

Adult dependents of all skilled stream migrants who do not speak functional level English are now required to pay for their English language tuition before receiving a visa.

The proportion of the skilled element in the migration program increased from 32 per cent to 52 per cent in 1997-98. The Coalition will ensure this balance is retained and increased.

Skills in short supply in Australia will be the principal determinant of skilled migrant entry.

The Coalition will improve skills recognition and employment prospects information, which is supplied by the Department of Immigration at overseas posts to potential applicants.

Employer nomination, where migrants are guaranteed employment, will be accorded a higher priority for independent skilled entry.

English proficiency will continue to have high priority for permanent skilled and business migrants. In light of Australia’s strong international orientation, the Coalition will give greater weight to bilingual and multilingual skills in the points test.

From 1 July 1999 new applicants in these categories will have to be less than 45 years of age, have vocational level English and have a skilled occupation with qualifications recognised in Australia.

Other minimum thresholds also will be established to remove anomalies in the current points test and introduce factors more pertinent to obtaining employment in Australia.

Additional employability factors include the provision of five additional points where the applicant’s spouse also meets the threshold requirements for skills, age and English language ability. From 1 July 1998, additional points are awarded where applicants obtain their diploma, trade certificate or degree from an Australian educational institution.

The Business Skills category encourages successful business people to settle permanently in Australia and develop new business opportunities.

The number of business migrants rose from 2,400 in 1994-95 to more than 5,800 in 1996-97.

Business migrants who have arrived in the last few years have created on average six new Australian jobs and injected over $1 billion into the economy in the last financial year.

To encourage a balanced dispersal of Australia’s migrant intake, the Coalition created new regional focussed categories. These included the state/territory Nominated Independent Scheme, the Regional Linked category and the Regional Established Business in Australia category.

In 1997-98, nearly 1,700 skilled migrants were granted visas under the new arrangements, an increase of 65 per cent on the 1996-97 figures. The Coalition will maintain these programs.

The refugee and humanitarian program will continue to be an essential element of the immigration program under a Coalition government and we shall maintain it as a separate program.

The Coalition reaffirms its commitment to maintain the refugee component of the program.

The Coalition will maintain the current definition of ‘refugee’, originating from the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees. However, we shall request the UNHCR to re-examine practices for dealing with female asylum-seekers to ensure their claims, especially those involving matters of cultural sensitivity, are fairly and properly assessed.

The Coalition restructured the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to better reflect our priorities and placed emphasis on program management accountability.

The Coalition is committed to ensuring the integrity of Australia’s borders and effective management of movement of people to and from Australia

The Coalition will strengthen enforcement of the provisions for revocation of visas obtained by fraudulent declarations.

The Coalition will ask the Council on Australian Citizenship to investigate options to allow the revocation - without time limitation - of future grants of citizenship on the basis of a false declaration or demonstrable fraud, either at the time of entry or application for citizenship.

The Coalition supports mandatory detention of illegal immigrants, with release provisions in the event of prolonged detention.

The Coalition will not tolerate blatant queue-jumping. This practice unfairly benefits a minority at the expense of the majority with equal or superior claims to entry.

Illegal immigrants with no just claim to remain in Australia will be removed promptly.