During an address at the National Press Club in Canberra, Mr Dutton said, "I want to bring people in as young as possible, as highly skilled as possible, so they're paying taxes for longer, they're contributing to Australian society, and they're helping build our nation."
Mr Abbott had called for a significant cut in nation's migrant intake. At present, Australia accepts 190,000 migrants annually. Abbott wants it reduced to 110,00 in a bid to lower the cost of living and reduce crime rates.
"With no insistence that refugees learn English, it's hardly surprising that only 30 percent of the last decade's intake are proficient; but without the national language how can newcomers ever really find a job and fully integrate into our way of life," Mr Abbot was quoted saying by news.com.au.
"At least until infrastructure, housing stock and integration have better caught up, we simply have to move the overall numbers substantially down," Mr Abbott said in a recent speech in Sydney as reported by The Australian.
The Home Affairs minister, who had previously indicated he was willing to revise the permanent migration cap, praised Australia's policy of targeted immigration.
He said during his first major speech as the Home Affairs minister that the country is well served by the amount of young, highly skilled migrants who are filling up labour shortages.
"That's been the wonderful history of migration in our country," Mr Dutton said.
Earlier, Treasurer and former Immigration minister Scott Morrison had vigorously defended nation's current level of migration intake, rejecting Tony Abbott's proposal.
"People who come as skilled migrants pay taxes," the treasurer told reporters in Melbourne.
"I was the immigration minister for Tony Abbott and the permanent immigration intake we have today is the same as it was when he was prime minister," he said.
"The real issue here is that when wages are flat and when people are feeling the pinch, people will line others up as being the reason," Mr Morrison told Melbourne's 3AW radio on Wednesday.
