SYDNEY, Australia: Australia's conservative opposition coalition has proposed major immigration cuts, targeting temporary and humanitarian visas while giving greater priority to skilled workers.

The Liberal-National Coalition said its plan would reduce temporary visas by 650,000 over four years and cut annual net overseas migration to 100,000 for the first two years. That would be about one-third of the current level.

The proposal comes as opposition to immigration grows in Australia, partly because of high living costs and a housing shortage.

The Coalition is also facing increasing pressure from the far-right One Nation party, which has gained support in recent surveys. One Nation has promised to cut temporary migration by 750,000 over three years.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor described the Coalition's proposal as the biggest immigration cut in Australian history.

"What we are proposing today is the biggest cut to immigration in the history of this country," Taylor told a press conference on Tuesday.

Under the plan, humanitarian visa places would be cut by half to 10,000. The Coalition would also limit international student enrolments to 240,000 and abolish the temporary graduate visa program, which allows international students to remain in Australia to study and work after completing their education.

At the same time, the Coalition plans to increase temporary skilled visas by 100,000. It also wants to clear a backlog of visa applications from construction workers.

Taylor said the plan would shift Australia's migration system back towards skilled workers, arguing that the Labor government had moved away from skilled migration.

The proposal is more ambitious than the migration cuts announced by the center-left Labor government last month. Labor plans to reduce annual net overseas migration to 225,000 by 2028.

Australia experienced a sharp rise in migration after reopening its borders in February 2022 following almost two years of COVID-19 restrictions. The increase was driven largely by international students, backpackers and temporary workers.

However, migration has fallen over the past two years. Net overseas migration was 306,000 in the year to June 30, 2025.

Australia's next general election is not scheduled until 2028.