For the 2023–24 permanent Migration Program, the Government will return the planning level to 190,000 places and will allocate 137,100 places (around 70 per cent) to the Skill stream, with Partner and Child visas to remain demand-driven.
The Government has allocated $125.8 million over 4 years to continue implementing outcomes from the Jobs and Skills Summit to strengthen the migration system. This includes $75.8 million over two years to extend the current visa processing resources to improve existing visa processing systems.
Visa application charges will rise by 6% above regular CPI indexation, as well as 15% for select visitor and temporary visa subclasses and 40% for business innovation and investment visas.
The refugees on Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs) will be given a permanent Resolution of Status visa. The Government estimates that this transition will increase payments for government services and benefits by $732.5 million over 5 years from 2022–23. However, RCOA believes this Treasury estimate is a gross miscalculation of the actual likely expenditure, as refugees on TPVs and SHEVs already had access to most government services and many are well-established in the Australian workforce.
The Government will provide $8.0 million over 4 years from 2023–24 (and $2 million/ year ongoing) to establish an Anti-Slavery Commissioner to work across Government, industry and civil society to support compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2018, to improve transparency in supply chains and help fight modern slavery in Australia and abroad.