CANBERRA, Australia — Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Thursday unveiled the federal government's long-delayed overhaul of Australia's migration system, announcing a series of regulatory changes aimed at cutting net overseas migration to 225,000 people by 2028 after negotiations with the opposition Coalition over stronger legislation collapsed.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra in an address titled "The Work of Managing the Migration Program: Who Arrives, Who Stays, Who Leaves," Burke said every measure in the package had been developed and formalized by February this year, rejecting suggestions the announcement was shaped by recent political pressure.

"It's simply demonstrably wrong to suspect that somehow this is a recent bit of work done to deal with a political climate. It's not," Burke said. "It's when we sat down and looked at the pace we could get for new housing, and we looked at where immigration was at, we knew we needed to have ways to bring those numbers down."

The speech had originally been scheduled for early August but was postponed at the last minute amid disagreement within Cabinet over the scope of the changes. Burke acknowledged Thursday that the measures being announced do not go as far as he would like, saying additional powers would require legislation the government has so far been unable to secure.

The announcement came hours after the Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures showing net overseas migration fell to 292,100 people in the year to March 2026, down from 309,500 in the previous 12-month period. Despite the........

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