Liberal Party roiled by leaked plan to ban migration from parts of 13 countries
Australia’s Liberal Party is scrambling to contain internal fallout after a hardline migration proposal, developed in former leader Sussan Ley’s office after the Bondi terror attack and never taken to shadow cabinet, was leaked to media. New opposition leader Angus Taylor moved quickly to distance himself from the plan on Monday night, as senior figures said they were blindsided by its contents and the way it was crafted.
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Guardian Australia confirmed the proposal originated inside Ley’s office and that it aimed to bar migration from specified regions across 13 countries. Multiple Liberal sources said the idea never advanced to leadership or party-room discussion, triggering confusion and anger when it surfaced publicly.
- The proposal sought to curb migration from 37 regions controlled by listed terrorist organisations, according to senior Liberal sources.
- Southern Mindanao in the Philippines was reportedly among the targeted areas. Two accused Bondi shooters allegedly travelled there in the month before the Dec. 14 attack, though federal police believe they neither received training nor interacted with a terror cell while in the Philippines.
- Taylor did not see the document before it leaked, and it was never signed off to proceed to shadow cabinet, sources said.
Alex Hawke, a former immigration minister and one of Ley’s closest allies, publicly urged caution on Tuesday and sought to reassure Australia’s Filipino community after the Philippines appeared on the list. Speaking before he was removed from shadow cabinet, Hawke said the country “should not have been on the list.”
“I can’t understand a good reason why the Philippines would be there when many people have come here, worked in our care sector. We need skilled visas from the Philippines to fill hospitals and aged care and lots of very good skills they bring to Australia,” Hawke said. “I’d say to the Australian Filipino community, in no way does this reflect on them … they are fantastic migrants.”
Hawke said he was consulted on broader “immigration principles” but not on any proposal to blacklist regions, despite being a member of the Liberal leadership team and a former immigration minister.
Senior Liberals described how a measured effort to reset the party’s stance on population and visas shifted in the aftermath of the Bondi attack. After the Coalition settled an internal fight over a net zero target in mid-November, Ley turned to immigration to counter the rise of One Nation. By early December, shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam and shadow immigration minister Paul Scarr had prepared a plan to lower immigration levels for Ley to release.
The rollout was twice delayed—first to keep attention on a Labor travel entitlements controversy involving minister Anika Wells, then by the Dec. 14 attack. Multiple sources said Ley’s office unilaterally broadened the package soon after, ultimately adding a proposed ban on entries from regions under terrorist control.
What followed in January is contested. One senior Liberal MP told Guardian Australia that Ley’s office first circulated the “terrorist-controlled areas” ban roughly three weeks after the Bondi attack. Scarr, they said, immediately flagged concerns with Ley’s team—including potential impacts on humanitarian and family reunion visas and on Australia’s international relationships. Two weeks later, a second draft retaining the ban went out, prompting further objections and questions about how One Nation would react.
Scarr said in a public statement Monday he “never agreed” to the policy and had “serious concerns” over its contents. Duniam said the leaked material amounted to “policy ideas that I haven’t seen, commented on or contributed to,” adding they had not gone to leadership, shadow cabinet or the party room.
The leak also exposed bitter internal politics. Some Liberals speculated it was designed to protect Ley from criticism over a lack of policy while wedging her successor. “Desperate” and a “defence mechanism” is how two MPs described the move, saying they, like many colleagues, had never seen the document.
Taylor’s office signaled he will not adopt the plan in its leaked form, and Hawke warned the Coalition to avoid overreach even as it argues for tighter controls. “There’s a broad consensus … we’re going to need to see more control and the restriction of numbers at the moment,” Hawke said. “But beyond that, I think you’ve got to be very careful … Australia is still reliant on the movement of people … and we definitely still need highly skilled people to come and work in our economy.”
The episode leaves Taylor balancing pressure from the right with the economic imperative for skilled migration—and a party still searching for a coherent, unifying immigration platform after a bruising leadership change and a deadly terror attack.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
