Overview
- Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke unveiled the package on Thursday that bars most new international students from bringing partners or children with narrow exemptions for PhD students and some Pacific and ASEAN nationals.
- The government will cap second- and third-year working‑holiday extensions through a ballot set at 45,000 second‑year places and 5,000 third‑year places to reduce long‑term backpacker stays.
- Officials will restrict student visa extensions to progression to higher‑level courses and place new 'no further stay' conditions on visitor visas to curb onshore switching and so‑called visa hopping.
- Border Force will recruit 100 extra compliance officers and use existing facilities, including a mothballed Melbourne quarantine site, to detain and process an estimated 77,000 visa overstayers.
- Many measures will be implemented by ministerial directions and administrative change while tougher asylum and legal reforms need parliamentary debate, and universities, tourism and farming groups warn of funding losses and regional labour shortfalls as a result.