The conservative commentariat is free to call the PM a liar, but what are the real facts about the Isis brides and migration?

There are 11 women and 23 children involved. Those that are citizens are entitled by law to have an Australian passport unless ASIO and the security authorities have evidence that could preclude this from happening. To argue that the Albanese government would ignore the advice of these authorities is not only fanciful, but is mischief-making and divisive on security issues which Australia’s leaders have shown bipartisanship since Federation in 1901.

To give perspective to this debate there is no hiding the fact that the Morrison government allowed 40 Isis members back into this country including adult male fighters.

On migration, in 1996, when John Howard came to office, net overseas migration (NOM) was below 100,000. When Howard lost his seat and the election in 2007 it was 244,000. That is, it had increased by more than 144 per cent, or to well above double the intake. In the pre-Covid years that followed, NOM dropped to about 225,000 a year.

When COVID hit in 2019 numbers plunged. They dropped 139,000 in 2020-2021. They peaked at 540,000 in 2023. It was Morrison’s Coalition cabinet which included Angus Taylor as Treasurer that accepted this figure as viable to address the loss of migrants. Now they try to pin it on the Labor government with their slogan of “numbers too high, standards too low”.

Intake is now falling fast. In 2023-24, NOM declined to about 430,000, and in 2024-25 was a little over 300,000. The government forecasts it will be around 260,000 this financial year, and 235,000 a year in the longer term, which is about on a par with what it was pre-pandemic, and a little lower than the number when John Howard was voted out of office.