Scott Morrison will invoke John Howard's refugee policies when he appears alongside the former prime minister to pledge a re-elected Coalition government will crack down on who comes to Australia.
Key points:
- Mr Morrison to announce plan to cap refugee migrants at 18,750 per year
- Liberals will push for 10pc increase in number of refugees, humanitarian entrants settled in regional Australia in 2019-20
- Pledge comes after Coalition promised to reduce permanent migration level cap to 160,000 per year
During a speech on Sunday, Mr Morrison will promise to cap the numbers of migrants coming to Australia each year as refugees at 18,750, and will unveil a suite of measures outlining precisely who will be allowed to stay.
For the first time during this election, Australia's second longest-serving prime minister, Mr Howard, will join the Prime Minister on the campaign trail as he addresses Liberal Party faithful in Sydney.
Mr Morrison's pledge to freeze the number of humanitarian arrivals for the next term of government comes after the Coalition's promise last month to drop the permanent migration level from 190,000 each year to a cap of 160,000.
"We've got our borders and the Budget under control," Mr Morrison will tell a crowd of Liberal Party figures including newly re-elected NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
"We make decisions about who comes here based on what's in Australia's interests."
During his 2001 election campaign launch speech, former prime minister John Howard famously declared: "We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come".
As well as freezing Australia's annual humanitarian intake, Mr Morrison will on Sunday announce the makeup of the program for the first time.
Under the policy there will be an overall target of 60 per cent of the offshore component for women, up from 50.8 per cent in 2017-18.
The Government will also push to increase the number of refugees and humanitarian entrants being settled in regional Australia from a target of 30 per cent to 40 per cent in 2019-20, but insists new arrivals will only go to areas where there is strong community support.
While appearing alongside Mr Howard, the Prime Minister will also take aim at Labor's immigration policies, challenging Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to say who he would allow to come to Australia.
"We've been upfront with Australia we're reducing the cap on our migration intake and capping the numbers of people we let in under our humanitarian program that's one of the most generous in the world," Mr Morrison will say.
"We're telling people where we'll be taking migrants from, who they will be, the skills we want them to have and working with regions to settle people in towns that want and need more workers, skills and students."
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