Calls Grow to Cap Graduate Visas as Family Numbers Surge

Pressure is mounting on the federal government to overhaul Australia's visa system, with critics pointing to surging numbers under the temporary graduate visa category as evidence that net migration has grown beyond manageable levels.

More than 271,000 temporary graduate visas are currently active in Australia, and over 73,000 of those are held by family members of the primary applicants — a figure that has drawn sharp criticism from across the political spectrum.

Nationals MP David Littleproud argued the figures reflect a broader failure of border management, saying the priority should shift toward skilled tradespeople rather than university graduates and their relatives. "We've got a skill shortage — we should be educating our own," he said. "We need builders, electricians, tilers, roofers. Those are the people that should be prioritised."

Littleproud also took aim at the concentration of international students in major institutions, noting that at Sydney University alone, foreign students account for 51 per cent of enrolments and contribute $1.7 billion in revenue. "Australian universities should primarily be there for Australian students," he said.

The debate is complicated by the economic weight of international education, which is now among Australia's top five export industries and worth approximately $55 billion annually. Littleproud acknowledged the tension but argued that housing affordability and the aspirations of young Australians must take precedence. "Migration is the biggest lever any federal government can pull and it doesn't cost you a cent," he said. "It's about getting the balance right."

Radio presenter Clinton Maynard agreed that universities have increasingly operated as commercial enterprises, something he said he witnessed firsthand while helping his daughter research post-school options. "I'm being hammered on social media by ads from universities desperate to get students, even though it's going to be very hard for a local student to get in," he said. "They've built a business model where overseas students fund 50 per cent of their revenue."

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has proposed the most drastic response, calling for secondary visa applicants to be scrapped entirely. Under that model, someone arriving from overseas to study would be barred from bringing a spouse or children. Maynard described the proposal as unworkable in practice but said it correctly identified the universities as the root of the problem. "We need to change the business model of universities away from being a business," he said. "They're meant to be there to educate kids."

The government's migration intake has itself become a political flashpoint, with the Coalition claiming Labor will have added two million people to Australia's population by the end of its second term — with 1.4 million already arrived. Housing supply and infrastructure capacity remain central concerns, with critics arguing that pouring migrants into capital cities compounds pressure on already strained rental markets.

The discussion came as a separate controversy engulfed the Bureau of Meteorology, with News Corp reporting the agency produced inaccurate rainfall forecasts more than 650 times in Queensland alone over the past two years — in some cases missing targets by over 200 millimetres. Littleproud said primary producers had lost faith in the bureau, with some now paying privately for forecasts from meteorological services in Norway, Canada and the United States instead of relying on the taxpayer-funded agency.