Overview

• Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the 2025–26 program will match last year at 185,000 places, with states backing a skills‑heavy split.
• Net overseas migration peaked at more than 530,000 in 2022–23, fell to about 340,750 by end‑2024, and is projected to decline further this year.
• The weekend’s March for Australia rallies drew thousands nationwide and featured neo‑Nazi involvement; Victoria Police charged Thomas Sewell over violent offences.
• The ABS cautioned against using border‑crossing data to infer migration, after organisers and media circulated inflated figures and false claims targeting Indian migrants.
• Critics, including former immigration deputy secretary Abul Rizvi, fault the government for scant detail and growing family‑visa backlogs, noting the permanent program does not directly set net migration.