‘Completely botched’: Barnaby Joyce reveals impact of migration crackdown

Barnaby Joyce has defended One Nation’s plan to slash migration, arguing Australia’s housing crisis cannot be solved without tackling the number of people entering the country. Speaking to News Corp, Mr Joyce said the party’s proposed cap would see net overseas migration limited to 130,000 a year, rejecting suggestions the figure would effectively be much higher once skilled workers and other arrivals were included. MORE: Australia named a top ‘forever renter’ nation as house prices outpace incomes What a gate post taught me about body corporate living Barnaby Joyce in Brisbane yesterday. Barnaby Joyce. Picture: Martin Ollman. “The net overseas migration — the NOM — is 130,000,” Mr Joyce said. “We are saying not that it will do 130,000. It won’t go past 130,000. We’ll do a proper stocktake.” Asked how such a dramatic reduction could be achieved while Australia was crying out for skilled workers and tradies to build more homes, Mr Joyce argued they were not driving migration numbers. “We’re not getting in the tradies and skilled workers. They’re not what’s making up the number,” he said, pointing instead to international students and other arrivals. Mr Joyce said reducing migration ...