On 25th of October 2022, the new Albanese government announced its first budget. Although the budget was a cautionary one, signalling the recovery process post covid. However, there were a number of encouraging measures taken on migration.
The budget also proposed increases of the migration program funding after it was cut by the previous Morrison government. An extra $576 million over four years will be provided to the Department of Home Affairs towards visa processing, to cover a shortfall in funding for the maintenance of offshore processing centres and to support refugees.
The Albanese government had previously announced it would put in an extra $36.1 million to hire more staff to bring down visa processing wait times. It also said it would increase the number of places for skilled and family visas from 160,000 to 195,000.
The announced skilled visa places under each category of visa are listed below.
