THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS KENNY, NEWS24

Thursday 8 October 2026 

Topics: Coalition’s immigration policy.

E&OE……………………………………

CHRIS KENNY: Let's catch up with Shadow Industry and Sovereign Capability Minister, Andrew Hastie, who joins us live from Perth. Good to talk to you, Andrew.

ANDREW HASTIE: Great to be with you, Chris.

CHRIS KENNY: Look, as I recall, you resigned from the shadow portfolio of Home Affairs because you weren't able to actually control the Coalition's immigration policy – that's how important the immigration policy of the Coalition was to you. So, now that it's out there and we've got all this detail, give us your assessment. Is this the sort of policy you would have liked to have delivered in that portfolio?

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right. I think the Australian people have been signalling that they want to see cuts to immigration for some time now. That was partly the reason I resigned from the front bench last year. Angus Taylor, Jonno Duniam and the rest of the team have delivered a very robust set of policies here to deal with immigration, to cut the numbers, but also to raise the standards and to make sure that it's budget neutral as well, which is really important for the economy.

CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, that's that is important, and that's where there'll be a lot of focus. You've got Labor trying to say it would damage the economy, but you're relying on the Parliamentary Budget Office. And this argument also, when you're bringing in the most productive people who are not only going to help with delivering economic capacity in this country, but pay more taxes, it tends to make sense economically.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right. We're getting rid of 650,000 temporary visas over the next four years, or if elected in 2028, over a four-year period – 100,000, 100,000, 130,000 160,000 will be the respective NOMs over that four-year period. And at the same time, upping the amount of skilled migrants who come to this country because we want people who are qualified and who are going to work in the sectors where we actually need them – aged care, healthcare, construction – and in places across this country that depend upon skilled labour for their hospitality and tourism in the regions, particularly.

CHRIS KENNY: Tell us about the quality control, for want of a better word. Angus Taylor has said many times he wants to lift the standards – he wants to reduce the numbers and lift the standards. We understand that when it comes to qualifications and trades, the people with the skills we want. But what about values? How are we going to prevent this country importing some of the Islamist extremism or other ideologies around the world that we simply don't want?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, we've talked for some time about having an Australian values test. Anyone who wants to come to this country, get a visa, ultimately settle, and become an Australian citizen must share our values, must sign up to those values, and they'll be part of a character test. You break those values, or you show contempt for those values, and we'll cancel your visa. So, we're going to make it very clear that Australian democracy will only survive into the future if we have a set of common loves. We all love our families, but we've also got to love our country. We've got to love our institutions. We've got to share a common language in English. And regardless of what our differences might be – they might be ethnic, they might be cultural – we can still live together if we have a common vision of this country that is Australia. That's where the Australian values test, which we're going to enforce, is so important.

CHRIS KENNY: I was just showing at the top of the program how a Palestinian action group in Sydney actually wants the terror listings for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad lifted. I mean, that's how some Australians in this country now work against the values of this country. So, apart from asking new immigrants to sign up to these values, how do we build these values – that love of country, for instance – back into our whole national psyche?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's a really good question, and I think militant Islam has been a real corrosive force in parts of the country, which is why we saw the shootings at Bondi last year. So, it's really important that our education system teaches a positive vision of our country. This is a unique Australian experiment. I was in Sydney over the last couple of days with the Joint Select Committee for Artificial Intelligence, and I was just marvelling once again at the harbour and the city that's been built up around it over the last 250 years or so. It's an incredible achievement. Australia is an experiment, though, and the only way it continues is if we have people who share our values and share common loves. That's what the standards we are going to insist upon are going to do, and that's why they're so important.

CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, I think the overwhelming majority of the country would agree with you, but I just think that from our preschools to our schools and our universities-they're working against this. We've got to instil some national values right from the get-go. Everybody's got a role in it. Just on the numbers with immigration, we've seen Labor overshoot its targets time and time again. How can you make sure that the net overseas migration is actually kept to 100,000?

ANDREW HASTIE: That's a really good question, Chris, and in the end, implementation is what matters. You can say everything from Opposition, but you've actually got to deliver in government. And I think what I've seen from Angus Taylor, as the Opposition Leader, as he's led us through this policy process, is that he understands the challenges, and I think we've got a pathway here to deliver lower immigration. We're going to abolish the Temporary Graduate Visas, and we're going to also process a lot of these Bridging Visas. There's been a lot of visa hopping, and our universities have been acting as visa mills, which is why we have so many temporary visas in this country. Abolishing the Temporary Graduate Visas will send a signal that universities are there first and foremost to educate Australians, but secondly to do research of national significance. And if people who come here and study at our universities – which we encourage, that's fine – but if they want a job here, they have to go offshore and then apply for a skilled migration visa. 

CHRIS KENNY: Great stuff. Thanks for joining us, Andrew. I appreciate it.

[ENDS]