3 MINS AGO! Labor And Coalition DISTR£SS As Voters PREFER One Nation On Immigration

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:03]Hello everyone, welcome back to the channel. Six out of every 10 Australians want fewer people coming into this country. That is not a fringe opinion.

[00:00:13]That is not a minor blip in the data.

[00:00:16]That is a majority position sitting at 62% and the political party benefiting most from it is not Labor, not the coalition. It is One Nation. And if that surprises you even slightly, then stick around because this story goes a lot deeper than just one poll. You are watching Australian Info and today we are breaking down the latest Sky News pulsegov poll that has rather quietly reshuffled the immigration debate in Australian politics. Let us get into it.

[00:00:46]So here is the headline figure. 36% of Australians now see One Nation as the political party best place to manage immigration. That is up from 29% back in February, a 7-point jump in just a few months. Now compare that to where the major parties are sitting. Labor is trusted on immigration by 18% of voters.

[00:01:08]The coalition also 18% and a further 21% are still undecided. So when you crunch those numbers, One Nation is sitting at double the trust level of either major party on this particular issue. double.

[00:01:24]That is not a gap. That is a canyon. And here is where it gets interesting. The 62% of Australians calling for reduced migration are not just coming from one political camp. This is not simply disgruntled coalition voters drifting right. The polling shows that voters across every political party, including Greens voters, are broadly preferring less immigration rather than more. That cross party consensus is rare in Australian politics. You do not often see Green's voters and One Nation voters agreeing on anything, but here they are reading from what appears to be a very similar page on migration numbers. Now, what are people actually asking for? 44% of respondents wanted a significant decrease in immigration. Another 18% wanted at least a modest decrease. That is 62% combined. On the other side, only 3% wanted a large increase and 7% supported a small increase. 28% were comfortable with current levels. So, the picture is clear. The public mood is firmly leaning towards scaling things back. Now, here is where we need to pause and give some context because polling on immigration does not exist in a vacuum. There are real budget decisions happening right alongside this. The Albanazi government recently revised its net overseas migration figures upward in the federal budget.

[00:02:51]The updated forecast has Australia welcoming an additional 35,000 people in 2025 to 2026 compared to the previous estimate and an extra 20,000 in 2026 to 2027. Over the full period from 2025 to 2030, net overseas migration is now forecast to total 1.2 million people.

[00:03:12]That is a substantial number and it landed in the public conversation at a moment when cost of living, housing affordability, and infrastructure pressure are all firmly in the spotlight. Whether those things are directly connected to migration levels is a genuine policy debate. Economists will argue this from several different angles, but in terms of public perception, the timing has clearly added fuel to an already burning conversation.

[00:03:36]Prime Minister Anthony Albanazi and the Labor government argue that migration supports economic growth and fills critical workforce gaps across health, construction, and aged care. These are genuine structural needs. Australia has an aging population and skill shortages that are very real. The government's position is that managed migration is a necessary part of keeping the economy functioning. That is a defensible and widely supported economic view. But the polling is telling us something that goes beyond economics. People are looking at housing cues, rental markets, and waiting lists and concluding that the pace of arrival is outrunning the pace of the infrastructure being built to support it. Whether that analysis is entirely accurate is secondary to the political reality. This is what a significant portion of the electorate believes right now. And that brings us to the opposition. Angus Taylor, who leads the Liberal Party and the broader coalition, has taken note of where voter sentiment is sitting and has put forward a fresh immigration platform. The plan would bring overseas arrivals down to roughly 150,000 per year, a significant reduction from current levels. The approach ties migration intake directly to housing capacity, meaning the number of people arriving would be linked to the rate at which homes are actually being built. The coalition's platform also includes a proposal to restrict certain welfare payments for non-citizens. Taylor's argument is that migration needs to be sustainable and that the current pace is adding pressure to a housing market that is already under significant strain. It is a policy position that clearly speaks to the 62% of Australians backing cuts. But as soon as Taylor stepped forward with this platform, Pauline Hansen stepped forward to offer her own commentary on it.

[00:05:23]Hansen's view that Taylor is essentially adopting one nation's long-standing immigration policy. Her party has been running on reduced migration for three decades. Her argument is that when the major parties eventually move in this direction, they are not leading, they are following. Angus Taylor has no vision for the future and that is why he is picking up one nation's policies. She said, "Whether you agree with that characterization or not, it is the kind of line that resonates with voters who feel like One Nation has been ahead of this conversation for years." Taylor, for his part, did not rule out working with One Nation, saying he would work with whoever he could to achieve results. That openness to collaboration is notable. It signals a broader realignment happening within conservative and center-right politics in Australia. One where the boundaries between the established coalition and minor right-leaning parties are becoming a little more fluid. And that dynamic matters because it affects how the political landscape looks heading forward. Here is the broader picture from the same poll that is worth holding on to. Labour's primary vote came in at 28%. One Nation was sitting at 25%.

[00:06:35]The coalition was at 23%.

[00:06:38]Now, primary votes in Australian elections are filtered through preference flows. So, these numbers do not translate directly into seat projections. But the direction of travel is worth noting. One Nation at 25% primary is not a protest vote anymore.

[00:06:54]That is a serious chunk of the electorate identifying with a minor party as their first preference. Labor still holds leads across a range of policy areas. cost of living, housing, health care, education, and international affairs. The coalition leads on economic management, government debt, and defense and security. And One Nation is now equal with Labor on wealth inequality, which is an interesting combination alongside its immigration position. It is not a profile you would typically associate with a right-leaning minor party, and it suggests One Nation is picking up support from voters who feel economically squeezed and culturally concerned at the same time.

[00:07:34]The political takeaway from all of this is not straightforward. If you are in Labour's camp, the challenge is clear.

[00:07:41]The government's own budget revision of migration numbers has created a perception gap between its policy direction and where the majority of the public sits on this issue. That does not mean the policy is wrong, but it does mean the communication challenge is significant. If you are in the coalition, the challenge is different.

[00:07:59]The shift towards a tougher immigration stance may recover some voters who have drifted to one nation. But Hansen's point that this looks like imitation rather than leadership is exactly the kind of narrative that makes it harder to win those voters back. When a party adopts the position of arrival, some voters will simply conclude they might as well go with the original. And if you are watching all of this from the sidelines, what the polling is really telling you is that immigration has moved from a secondary issue into one of the top tier concerns for Australian voters. The combination of housing pressure, cost of living stress, and a stretched sense of national capacity has turned what was once a background policy conversation into a front page political flash point. Whether the solution lies in reducing migration numbers, increasing housing supply and infrastructure investment, or some combination of the two, that debate is going to define a significant portion of Australian political discourse for the foreseeable future. And the parties that managed to offer a credible and coherent answer to that question are likely to be the ones voters reward. That is the story behind the numbers today. Not just a poll result, but a window into where a large slice of the Australian electorate is standing right now. and how the political parties are responding to the pressure of that reality. If you found this breakdown useful, hit the like button and share it with someone who enjoys following Australian politics closely. Make sure you are subscribed to Australian Info so you never miss an update when the next major shift in the political landscape lands. Leave a comment below. We genuinely read them.

[00:09:33]Tell us what you think about the immigration debate and whether you believe any of the major parties are actually offering a solution that stacks up. See you in the next