Immigration and taxes: Angus Taylor outlines agenda ahead of front bench announcement

Angus Taylor is expected to announce a new front bench in the coming days in a bid to move on from weeks of party infighting.

Man wearing a suit extends hand for handshake with woman standing next to him. Both standing in front of Australian flags.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the coalition is not trying to become "One Nation lite". Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will soon unveil his overhauled front bench as he signals a shift to the right with a focus on issues such as immigration.

The newly elected Liberal leader spent his first few days in the role sketching key priorities after ousting the party's first female leader, Sussan Ley, on Friday following weeks of infighting.

Policy announcements are expected to be accompanied by a refreshed front bench, with exiled conservatives and leadership agitators Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price poised to return.

"They're magnificent members of our team," Taylor said on Sunday of the pair, whose previous frontbench stints ended due to migration-related issues.

While offering few details on his party's approach, Taylor promised to pursue a stricter immigration policy, repeatedly flagging plans to reduce the nation's migrant intake and tighten screening.

"The (migration) numbers under Labor have been just extraordinary — way beyond what this country can absorb," he said.

"Standards have been too low, numbers have been too high and we haven't explicitly shut the door on people who reject our way of life."

The Hume MP said he would unveil a full policy "in the coming days".

Taylor has insisted the Coalition is not trying to become "One Nation lite" as it bleeds voter support to the anti-immigration party.

The first poll since Taylor became Liberal leader, published by Nine newspapers on Monday, showed Labor with 32 per cent of the primary vote and One Nation and the Coalition tied on 23 per cent.

The Resolve poll of 1,800 people conducted between 8 February and 14 February found a Taylor-led Coalition three percentage points ahead of an Opposition led by Ley.

One Nation recorded primary support of 27 per cent in the latest Newspoll, conducted before Taylor toppled Ley as leader, with the Coalition on 18 per cent.

Former senior immigration official Abul Rizvi said Taylor's pointed tough-on-immigration stance could be directly influenced by One Nation's rise.

"He reads the polls as closely as anybody," Rizvi said.

However, he noted strong character requirements already existed for migrants looking to enter Australia and they had only been tightened by anti-hate crime laws introduced after the Bondi terror attack.

Taylor and deputy Jane Hume have also repeatedly vowed to offer lower taxes, a renewed focus on housing affordability and the end of an "ideological approach" to energy policies.

Hume said Australia needed to be "open-minded" on nuclear energy if the country was to reduce emissions and make power cheaper.


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Source: AAP



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