Australia’s Labor government is planning tougher enforcement against people who remain in the country after their visas expire, including expanding detention capacity and hiring additional compliance officers.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced the measures as part of a broader migration overhaul aimed at reducing the number of people living in Australia without valid visas. Government figures put the number of unlawful non-citizens at about 77,000.
Under the proposed changes, the government plans to add 100 compliance officers and make an additional 250 detention beds available. Authorities are also considering whether a former quarantine facility in Melbourne could be repurposed for immigration detention.
Burke said the measures were intended to restore an approach used before 2015, when people who overstayed their visas could be placed in detention while arrangements were made for them to leave the country.
He rejected comparisons with the immigration enforcement policies of US President Donald Trump, arguing that Australia’s proposed system would operate differently from the American model.
The plans have nevertheless drawn criticism from opposition groups and immigration advocates. Greens immigration spokesperson David Shoebridge accused the government of adopting elements of Trump-style immigration enforcement and questioned the focus on detention rather than improving visa processing and appeals.
Human rights organisations have also raised concerns about expanding Australia’s detention system. They argue that people who have overstayed visas can include vulnerable workers who may already face exploitation and should not automatically be treated through a punitive approach.
The government says the policy is aimed primarily at encouraging people without valid visas to leave voluntarily. Burke said that before the 2015 changes, detention was used in a relatively limited way and people generally arranged their own departure within weeks.
The minister also said the nature of Australia’s detention population had changed significantly since 2015. Detention facilities now hold a larger number of people who have been transferred from the criminal justice system, making it more difficult to use the same facilities for visa overstayers.
The government is seeking to reduce net overseas migration, which has become a major issue in Australia’s immigration debate. Its budget projections envisage net overseas migration falling from 292,100 to 245,000 in 2026–27 and to 225,000 annually thereafter.
The proposed measures have also renewed debate over Australia’s longstanding policy of mandatory immigration detention and the conditions under which people without valid visas can be detained.
Australia’s High Court ruled in 2023 that indefinite detention was unlawful where there was no reasonable prospect of a person being removed from the country. How that legal framework will interact with the government’s proposed changes remains an issue for scrutiny.
The government says the measures are designed to strengthen compliance with Australia’s visa system, while critics argue that expanding detention risks creating a more punitive immigration regime.
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