QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr BURKE (Watson—Minister for the Arts, Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Cyber Security, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and Leader of the House) (14:43): I thank the member for Indi for the issues that she's raised. I've had these issues raised with me by a number of members around the chamber. The member for Indi has written to me as well on this.

A number of the regional members on the government side—in particular, I'd single out the minister for agriculture—have been raising this to work through these issues. We do need to get net overseas migration down; we do. I noticed a private member's motion from a member of the National Party this week.

Some people seem to feel that you can get net overseas migration down while having the same number of migrants. To be able to work through this, we need to be able to make sure that we deal with the numbers. We need to make sure that we deal with the numbers overall and do so in a sensible, targeted way that provides the easiest pathway through for the Australian economy.

People would be aware that I've been working through these issues, and people would also be aware that there are further issues to be announced tomorrow. But let me say this. Basically, since, in part, the Hawke and, largely, the Howard years, a whole lot of our immigration system has been demand driven.

A whole lot of our immigration system simply functions virtually by applications being made, and processing speeds is one of the only things with planning levels that we currently have available. The more tools that are available, the better we can target the system. The best form of outcome there will be if we are able to sort our way through for a legislative option.

In the absence of that, there are still more levers that the government will be able to use. I'll be making those announcements tomorrow.