![\"\u2018Something](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ec0ba52636e55b0d05069fa1c28b435a.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nImmigration Minister Tony Burke has proposed cutting secondary student visas as the Albanese government desperately searches for ways to bring down migration figures.<\/p>\n
News24.com.au has confirmed that Mr Burke\u2019s plan includes axing so called \u201csecondary student visas\u201d \u2013 for partners or family members of people on student visas. \u00a0<\/p>\n
There are 67,000 such people in Australia at the moment with more than 100,000 applications.<\/p>\n
It comes as the Albanese government searches for ways to bring net overseas migration down from 300,000 a year to its target of 225,000.<\/p>\n
The government has not yet revealed the full package of measures that Mr Burke has been working on after he was forced to cancel a major immigration speech.<\/p>\n
News24 understands Mr Burke\u2019s promised announcement will not proceed this week, with no clear indication on when it will take place.<\/p>\n
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy declined to confirm whether Mr Burke was looking to axe secondary student visas on Sunday.<\/p>\n
“You will know what our migration policy is when Minister Burke announces it,” he told Sunday Agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’m not going to get ahead of him or front run the minister. I respect him too much, and I respect cabinet processes too much.”<\/p>\n
He added that there were no divisions in cabinet over migration after Mr Burke failed to get his policy proposals approved.<\/p>\n
“Absolutely not. We run a good cabinet process where everyone gets to have their say around the cabinet table,” Mr Conroy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese intervened to overrule Mr Burke on a proposed reduction to the annual refugee intake.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the News Corp Bush Summit, Mr Albanese rejected suggestions that Labor was preparing to abandon its commitment to a larger humanitarian intake.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, no, not necessarily. Don’t believe everything you read in the (Australian Financial Review),\u201d Mr Albanese said when asked whether the refugee intake would be cut.<\/p>\n
The AFR reported that the annual refugee intake would be cut by a third \u2014 from about 20,000 to 13,750.<\/p>\n
Asked whether a reduction would amount to a response to the rise of One Nation and a sacrifice of Labor\u2019s previous position, Mr Albanese rejected the suggestion.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, we’re responding to the national need, something that we\u2019ve said before,\u201d he said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started lowering the numbers well before (the rise of One Nation), because we recognise that we want to get that right to assist the Australian economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Albanese subsequently confirmed annual humanitarian intake would remain at 20,000 places, and sit alongside \u201cstrong border security measures\u201d.<\/p>\n
The intervention created an awkward moment for Mr Burke, whose office had earlier confirmed that the government was considering reducing the intake.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Albanese\u2019s intervention prompted claims from the Coalition that Labor was divided or had never seriously intended to make the refugee cut.<\/p>\n
Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan questioned whether the proposed reduction had ever been genuine.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy view is they probably never had any intention of doing it (making cuts to the refugee intake),\u201d he told News24 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
He argued the sequence of events allowed Mr Albanese to distance himself from the proposed reduction while presenting himself as the politician who had stopped it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we’ve seen is the Prime Minister just let it be leaked out that it was him … he was the one who said, make sure that this never happened,\u201d Mr Tehan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems they’re completely at sixes-and-sevens as to how they’re going to address it. They have no plan and they seem to be making it up as they go along.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5cf314077f4ee28a92a483a6df142385.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The Coalition has separately promised to reduce net overseas migration below 200,000 a year and has proposed reducing the humanitarian intake to 13,750 places.<\/p>\n
However, shadow immigration minister Jonno Duniam recently said the Coalition would not be releasing its complete immigration policy this year.<\/p>\n
Mr Duniam said the Coalition was deliberately taking its time to ensure its policy reflected the economic and social conditions Australia could face in 2028.<\/p>\n
Labor<\/a>, the Coalition<\/a> and\u00a0One Nation<\/a>\u00a0have all struggled to shore up their immigration figures, and the issue shapes up to be a major election battle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Immigration Minister Tony Burke has proposed cutting secondary student visas as the Albanese government desperately searches for ways…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[135079,83356,42038,135088,135050,135056,135069,48792,51008,5859,135059,83124,135047,135049,44367,9799,25766,42915,57099,65317,135048,135089,135046,135051,135067,135077,135090,57798,39403,135065,37043,37834,41374,135086,1869,135052,135063,483,91284,22,4917,23,16294,21,35800,5489,135060,38767,4919,6231,13869,68813,52689,40814,6909,135054,12699,39112,3473,133897,11134,51559,135073,130898,66412,74964,12700,156,130893,41125,2177,135092,135081,45790,35086,26885,68802,135058,52467,39475,8468,65099,118345,105608,135068,135061,135070,58815,1955,70078,135072,135083,7350,31458,30551,41948,489,13091,16460,30676,135093,128143,135085,34209,52411,135071,135057,135066,11145,40619,19816,106924,35856,129895,78963,36878,135078,135053,62503,68067,10264,135084,135062,23380,135082,135076,120292,40910,44604,37772,129839,135074,135091,38937,56665,135064,41162,135075,135055,135045,41563,116123,41847,135087,54478,38964,39096,7444,2797,1964,39318,135080],"class_list":["post-83385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-migration-cut-proposal","tag-s-intervention","tag-s-plan","tag-s-previous-position","tag-s-promised-announcement","tag-s-visa-crackdown","tag-strong-border-security-measures","tag-48792","tag-51008","tag-5859","tag-000-applications","tag-000-places","tag-000-such-people","tag-000-to-13","tag-44367","tag-9799","tag-25766","tag-42915","tag-57099","tag-65317","tag-750-places","tag-a-good-cabinet-process","tag-a-larger-humanitarian-intake","tag-a-major-call","tag-a-major-election-battle","tag-a-major-immigration-speech","tag-a-proposed-reduction","tag-a-reduction","tag-a-response","tag-a-sacrifice","tag-a-third","tag-a-year","tag-about-20","tag-afr","tag-albanese","tag-an-awkward-moment","tag-annual-humanitarian-intake","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-any-intention","tag-au","tag-auspol","tag-australia","tag-australian-financial-review","tag-austrlia","tag-burke","tag-cabinet","tag-cabinet-processes","tag-claims","tag-coalition","tag-cuts","tag-dan-tehan","tag-defence-industry-minister-pat-conroy","tag-duniam","tag-earlier-this-week","tag-events","tag-his-policy-proposals","tag-home-affairs-minister","tag-home-affairs-minister-tony-burke","tag-homelessness","tag-immigration-minister-tony-burke","tag-immigration-policies","tag-its-commitment","tag-its-complete-immigration-policy","tag-its-policy","tag-its-target","tag-its-time","tag-jonno-duniam","tag-labor","tag-mass-immigration","tag-measures","tag-migration","tag-migration-figures","tag-minister-burke","tag-more-than-100","tag-mr-albanese","tag-mr-burke","tag-mr-conroy","tag-mr-duniam","tag-mr-tehan","tag-my-view","tag-net-overseas-migration","tag-news24","tag-news24-sunday-agenda","tag-news24-com-au","tag-no-clear-indication","tag-no-divisions","tag-no-plan","tag-one-group","tag-one-nation","tag-one-nation-candidate","tag-our-migration-policy","tag-partners-or-family-members","tag-people","tag-place","tag-pm","tag-premature","tag-prime-minister","tag-prime-minister-anthony-albanese","tag-questions","tag-reduction","tag-refugee-cut","tag-refugee-intake","tag-secondary-student-visas","tag-secret-harbour","tag-shadow-energy-minister-dan-tehan","tag-shadow-immigration-minister-jonno-duniam","tag-sixes-and-sevens","tag-something-odd","tag-student-visas","tag-suggestions","tag-sunday","tag-sunday-agenda","tag-tehan","tag-that-right","tag-the-afr","tag-the-albanese-government","tag-the-albanese-government-searches","tag-the-annual-refugee-intake","tag-the-australian-economy","tag-the-cabinet-table","tag-the-coalition","tag-the-economic-and-social-conditions","tag-the-full-package","tag-the-government","tag-the-humanitarian-intake","tag-the-intake","tag-the-intervention","tag-the-issue","tag-the-minister","tag-the-moment","tag-the-national-need","tag-the-news-corp-bush-summit","tag-the-news24-bush-summit","tag-the-numbers","tag-the-one","tag-the-politician","tag-the-prime-minister","tag-the-proposed-reduction","tag-the-refugee-cut","tag-the-refugee-intake","tag-the-rise","tag-the-sequence","tag-the-suggestion","tag-their-immigration-figures","tag-their-say","tag-this-week","tag-this-year","tag-thursday","tag-tony-burke","tag-visas","tag-ways","tag-whose-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}