Live: Home affairs minister considers backdown on backpacker visa policy
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is considering changing the government's backpacker visa policy, which was announced two months ago at the National Press Club.
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National criminal history tracker to enter next phase of rollout
By Lexie Jeuniewic
By Lexie Jeuniewic
The federal government's long-awaited national criminal history tracker is set to enter the next stage of its rollout.
Once fully operational, the National Continuous Checking Capability (NCCC) will provide near-real time monitoring of national changes to criminal history information on Working with Children Check (WWCC) holders.
The pilot currently has access to information about Commonwealth and ACT offences and from Monday South Australia's Department of Human Services will connect.
As previously reported by friend of the blog Claudia Long, the system was called for more than a decade ago in the royal commission into child sexual abuse.
The government has committed $37 million to the NCCC and says the focus will now turn to bringing remaining state and territory agencies on board as soon as possible, with police forces expected to join next year.
Key Event
Home affairs minister considers backpacker backdown
By Sara Tomevska
By Sara Tomevska
The federal government is considering a backdown on its backpacker visa policy, two months after immigration minister Tony Burke announced sweeping cuts at the National Press Club.
As part of its plan to reduce net migration to 225,000 people by 2028, Labor said it would impose a ballot system, cap second-year visa places at 45,000 (down from 57,000 this year) and cap third-year places at 5,000 (down from 31,000 this year).
However, Burke says the government is considering changes to its policy after outcry from the hospitality and agriculture sectors.
"The parameters were clear — the total numbers, which I had announced in the Press Club speech, were something that I could not compromise on," Burke says.
"But if we could find a better way of getting a similar immigration outcome with a better outcome for industry, then I wanted us to work to that.
"Those conversations are continuing."
Similarly, the prime minister last week sought to reinstate regional work obligations on British backpackers after ruling out such a move, after "representations" from industry and WA Premier Roger Cook.
The Australian is reporting the latest changes could include delaying the backpacker ballot until next year and increasing third-year visas to 25,000.
Good morning 👋
By Joshua Boscaini
By Joshua Boscaini
Hello and welcome to our federal politics live blog! It's great to have you here for another day of federal politics news.
I'm Josh Boscaini, joining you live from Parliament House in Canberra, here and ready to bring you all of today's federal politics news.
The home affairs minister is considering backing down on changes to backpacker visas just months after announcing them at the National Press Club.
And my colleague Clare Armstrong will have all the latest from the COP31 summit in Türkiye throughout the morning.
It's nearly the end of the working week, so let's get right into the day's news and see what it brings us!
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