# One Nation's plan to cut 750,000 migrants

> Pauline Hanson wants temporary migration back at 2017 levels, and business says the bill lands on hospitals, farms and building sites.
- Title: One Nation's plan to cut 750,000 migrants · the Guardian
- Summary: Pauline Hanson wants temporary migration back at 2017 levels, and business says the bill lands on hospitals, farms and building sites. The cut targets…
- Keywords: immigration, australian politics, one nation, aged care, economy, news, world, One, Nation's, plan, cut, 750
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/sep/14/one-nation-new-migration-plan-cut-750000-aged-care-impact-ntwnfb
- Published: 2026-09-14T02:25:17+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: immigration, australian politics, one nation, aged care, economy, news, world
## 750,000 fewer over three years
One Nation says it will cut temporary migrant numbers by more than 750,000 across three years, aiming at international students and the families of skilled migrants.
## A net-negative reset
Temporary visa numbers would go back to 2017 levels, producing net overseas migration of 130,000 and, Hanson says, a net-negative arrival rate for the first three years.
## Hanson's pitch is scarcity
She framed it around rentals, hospitals and housing, saying families compete with hundreds for a rental and patients wait in ambulances for beds.

> Young Australians are being locked out of home ownership while wages and infrastructure fail to keep up.
## Students take the biggest hit
Student visas, including those for accompanying family, would fall to 350,000 over three years. About 680,000 international students studied here from January to May.
## Graduate visas gutted
A single graduate program visa would be capped at 20,000 new visas a year, pulling the graduate total down from 270,000 to 40,000.
## Three months to leave
Hanson would give people she calls illegal migrants three months to go. Leave voluntarily and you can apply again later. Stay and you face a lifetime ban.

> Those who remain unlawfully after this period will be subject to immigration enforcement and a lifetime ban from re-entering Australia.
## Cracks inside One Nation
Lower house MP David Farley has already warned that deep cuts would strip his seat of Farrer of the workers who care for elderly people and work the farms.
## Business says no
The Business Council and ACCI both pushed back. Pubs and cafes need chefs, aged care homes and hospitals are already short, and housing projects stall without trades.

> The starting point for any conversation with respect to migration cannot simply have the objective of cutting numbers.
## Farmers warn on food prices
One in seven farm workers is a backpacker or working holidaymaker, says the National Farmers' Federation. Without them, growers won't risk planting crops they can't harvest.

> We won't be able to take the risks to spend all the money, we spend up front obviously to produce these crops.
## Both major parties reject it
Angus Taylor called the policy absolute nonsense and demanded real numbers. Mark Butler said it would smash construction and devastate health, aged care and disability.

> This is going to smash industries like construction.
## Key takeaway

The cut targets students and graduates, but the shortages it would create fall on aged care, construction and agriculture, the sectors already short of staff.