Migration Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Bill 2026

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time. In other words, they voted to agree with the main idea of the bill. This means they can now discuss it in more detail.

What does this bill do?

According to the bill homepage, the bill:

Amends the Migration Act 1958 to enable temporary restrictions on the arrival of certain classes of temporary visa holders in Australia, including when events or circumstances outside Australia mean that there is an increased risk that certain classes of temporary visa holders will not depart Australia when their visas cease to be in effect.

The explanatory memorandum (which is a document prepared by the party introducing the bill, which is the Government in this case) explains that:

Currently, the Migration Act does not contain a general power to prevent cohorts of non-citizens who hold visas that are in effect from traveling to Australia, including in circumstances where that travel may present a risk to Australia’s national interest,. Although there are powers under the Migration Act to cancel a non-citizen’s visa in those circumstances, those powers are only capable of being exercised in relation to individual non-citizens. The existing powers are therefore resource intensive, and are not suited to responding at scale to events occurring overseas where it is appropriate and in the national interest to limit or prevent travel to Australia for current holders of a temporary visa who are outside of Australia.

This may include during periods of international conflict or other rapid international developments that place unsustainable strains on the functioning of the migration system, which is desirable the Government to respond by placing limitations on the ability of certain cohorts of non-citizens from travelling to Australia.

The amendments of the Migration Act in this Bill will operate to establish a personal power of the Minister to make an arrival control determination by legislative instrument which operates to specify that a suspension of temporary visas applies to one or more specified classes of non-citizens in specified circumstances. Before making an arrival control determination, the Minister must obtain written agreement from the Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister.

The Minister must also be reasonably satisfied that an event or circumstance has occurred or is occurring outside Australia, and one or both of the following apply:

• having regard to the event or circumstance – non-citizens of a kind to whom the determination is to apply may, if they enter Australia on a temporary visa, remain in Australia after the visa ceases to be in effect; or

• if the event or circumstance had occurred, or had been occurring, at the time non-citizens of a kind to whom the determination is to apply were to make an application for a temporary visa, the visa may not have been granted.