REGULATIONS AND DETERMINATIONS
Senator LIDDLE (South Australia) (17:42): The coalition will oppose this disallowance motion. The motion represents yet another example of the Australian Greens trying to wind back reasonable migration controls and remove price signals from a system that must be sustainable, workable and in the national interest. The regulation increases the visa application charge for the temporary graduate visa subclass 485 from 1 March 2026.
For most primary applicants, the charge increases from $2,300 to $4,600, with corresponding increases for secondary applicants. Applicants from specified countries and Timor-Leste remain exempt from the increase and continue to pay the previous prices. Australia's migration system must be properly managed.
That means visa settings should reflect the cost of administering the system, the value of the rights conferred and the broader set of pressures that the current migration program is exerting on housing, infrastructure, services and the labour market. The temporary graduate visa is not a student visa. It is a post-study work visa that provides unrestricted work rights and allows graduates to remain in Australia temporarily after completing their studies.
Visa holders have unlimited work rights and may work in any field or occupation once they are granted the visa. In essence, the Greens therefore want to remove a measure that helps to ensure that the program is priced and controlled more appropriately and effectively than it has been in the past. The changes being made through this regulation do not represent a ban.
They do not establish a cap and they do not, in any way, abolish the existence of the temporary graduate visa. They introduce an increased visa application charge for a temporary visa that confers significant work rights in Australia. The regulation preserves lower charges for Pacific and Timor-Leste applicants, recognising those strategic and regional relationships that have existed for centuries.
The explanatory statement says the uplift does not apply to applicants whose primary applicant holds a valid passport from specified Pacific countries or Timor-Leste. In particular, this disallowance motion should be rejected because it would weaken the government's ability to manage temporary migration settings at basically the worst possible time to do so. Against the backdrop of an annual net overseas migration figure of more than 300,000 for 14 straight quarters, the Greens are, again, arguing for fewer controls in the migration system, lower charges and disregard for the pressures people are already living with in Australia.
A temporary graduate visa is a valuable visa. It provides an opportunity to live, study and work in Australia after completing an Australian qualification. It is reasonable that applicants make a fairer contribution to the cost and value of that visa.
International students make an important contribution to Australia, but the temporary graduate visa is a separate post-study work visa. It provides substantial benefits, including unrestricted work rights. A higher charge does not remove access to the visa.
It ensures the settings better reflect the value and cost of the program. A credible international education sector depends on integrity and public confidence. Weakening migration settings does not help the sector in the long term.
Sustainable settings are essential to maintaining community support for international education. This is not a punishment. It is a charge attached to a temporary visa that allows people to remain in Australia and work after study.
The visa remains available, and exemptions remain in place for eligible Pacific and Timor-Leste applicants. More broadly, it is the Albanese government that has created a migration crisis, and there are many more things that we could all argue about, but this motion specifically is about placing a more appropriate charge on a valuable temporary visa. In short, the coalition will not support the Greens' attempt to weaken Australia's migration settings.
Temporary graduate visas provide significant work rights and must be priced reasonably and responsibly. At a time of pressure on housing, services and infrastructure, the Senate should reject this disallowance motion. The coalition believes migration must serve Australia's national interest.
This means a system that is fair, orderly, sustainable and credible. The Greens' motion does not meet that test. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Cox ): The question is that the disallowance motion in the names of Faruqi and Shoebridge be agreed to.