'They are looking at us like numbers'
Today's announcement comes as debate over migration in Australia intensifies — with One Nation revealing a plan to cut 750,000 temporary visa holders from Australia over three years if elected.
Jyoti is one of the people feeling anxious about what changes to migration policy could mean for them.
She came to Australia from northern India eight years ago as an international student and is now in Australia on a work visa.
The 43-year-old teacher — whose Skilled Independent visa application has been sitting in the queue for months — worries that she will be affected by changes to migration policy if One Nation comes to power.
"I feel like the axe is going to fall on people like us before anyone else," she told SBS News.
"They are looking at us as just numbers, but there are actual lives and people behind these numbers."
You can read that story by Avneet Arora below.
— Alexandra Koster
Coalition says it was open to working with Labor on migration policy
More heat has come towards Labor this morning with Liberal frontbencher James Paterson accusing the party of refusing to collaborate with the Coalition on migration.
"If the government was actually serious about reducing numbers and lifting standards, then we could have worked with them," Paterson told News24 this morning.
"We provided a list of suggestions and ideas ... that actually would have reduced those numbers and lifted those standards, but the government wasn't interested in our ideas."
Just yesterday, Tony Burke told SBS News he had tried to find a path for bipartisan agreement with the Opposition.
"I had hoped that the Opposition would work constructively to make sure the immigration minister of the day had additional powers to be able to regulate net overseas migration," he said on Wednesday.
"At the moment, they haven't agreed to measures which they claim to support.
"I would much rather have more targeted levers available."
— Alexandra Koster, with additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.
'Not an issue' that Coalition yet to reveal its own policy, Canavan says
Nationals leader Matt Canavan also had a chat with Radio National this morning, saying it was not an issue that the Coalition would be releasing its own migration plan after Labor's.
"I don't see that as an issue given that the election's not for 18 months," Canavan said when asked if it was a problem that the Coalition would be the last to reveal its migration policy.
"I mean, we can't obviously implement any of our policies today."
He also criticised what he called a "somewhat haphazard approach" from One Nation.
"The somewhat haphazard approach of One Nation the past month meant that they had four migration policies in four weeks," he said.
"We'll have one policy we announce as a Liberal and National Coalition, and it's something we'll be able to fight for ahead of the next election."
— Alexandra Koster
Plibersek pushes back against reports of party division
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek appeared on ABC's Radio National this morning ahead of the announcement, but was pretty tight-lipped about what we could expect.
She recognised migration's importance to Australia and pushed back against cabinet division over the policy.
"We want to have a sensible policy as a government that recognises that some migration is still very important to this country," Plibersek told Radio National.
"We also … want to make sure the debate retains at its centre the reminder that Australia has been built on migration."
Asked whether an internal rupture in the party was to blame for the policy's delay, Plibersek said: "That has been reported and you can't always believe what you read in the newspapers."
Pushed on whether all members of the party agreed on the policy, Plibersek said she would not discuss what happened in cabinet, but that it was a "constructive discussion".
She also recognised the need for skilled workers — particularly in health, aged care, and agricultural sectors.
— Alexandra Koster
Latest migration figures to be released today
Another one to keep an eye on today is fresh migration data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Australia's latest net overseas migration (NOM) figures will be released about an hour before Tony Burke starts speaking.
That'll cover the first three months of the year through to March.
The latest ABS overseas migration data showed 568,400 migrants arrived in Australia in financial year 2024/25 and 262,800 left.
Those figures are then used to calculate the official NOM figure — which was 305,600.
— Alexandra Koster
Welcome to the live blog
Buenos días, صباح الخير, Guten Morgen, सुप्रभात, Buongiorno, 좋은 아침 — and good morning.
Welcome to our live blog. This morning, you've got Alexandra Koster with you. I'll be taking you through what you need to know ahead of the Albanese government's highly anticipated migration plan announcement.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is set to announce the government's new immigration plan at the National Press Club in Canberra at around 12.30pm.
The speech is titled: "The work of managing the migration program: who arrives, who stays, who leaves".
Burke was initially slated to reveal the government's plan back in August, but it was cancelled at the eleventh hour after the government failed to secure cabinet agreement on the best approach.
Today, it'll hopefully come to fruition. We'll take you through that — and everything else you need to know.
— Alexandra Koster
