🗞️Investing in Australia's Security and Resilience

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The Albanese Labour Government is investing $1.2 billion in programmes, initiatives, and coordinated responses through the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force to make Australia safer, secure, and more resilient.

Securing the borders and ensuring community safetyThe 2024-25 Budget includes additional funding from the Albanese Government to secure Australia's borders and community. To ensure border security, $569.4 million was invested in boats, planes, and autonomous vehicles for Operation Sovereign Borders and Australia's civil maritime operations. Border protection funding from the Albanese Government is $1.31 billion more than the previous government promised.

According to the Australian Border Force Commissioner, “Border Force funding is currently the highest it’s been since its establishment”. The Albanese Government is also committing $71.6 million to make the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce permanent, improve our ability to prosecute and deter foreign interference, and protect technology from espionage and foreign interference.

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Delivering a smaller, better targeted migration system

The Albanese Government continues to invest in rebuilding and reforming Australia’s migration system by attracting migrants from around the world to help create jobs and drive productivity, while delivering on commitments in the Migration Strategy that are helping bring migration back down to sustainable levels:

• Delivering the 2024–25 permanent Migration Program at 185,000 places, with an ongoing focus on skilled migration.

• Providing funding for visa processing to ensure the Government continues to deliver on priorities, including applying additional scrutiny to international student visa applications and providing streamlined processing for skilled workers, such as in healthcare professions.

• Implementing a new National Innovation Visa and closing the Business Innovation and Investment Program to new applicants.

Improving economic and social outcomes for migrants

The Albanese Government will invest $120.9 million from 2024-25 on a number of proven programs to deliver better economic and social outcomes for refugees. This funding includes $86.6 million to improve the sustainability of settlement services and $27 million to extend successful programs, including the Youth Transition Support program and support for refugee and migrant women experiencing domestic and family violence.Additional measures include conversational English language classes in Community Hubs and further support for the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot, supporting the Government’s commitment on complementary protection. These investments ensure newly resettled refugees in Australia are provided the support they need to succeed in the community.The Government will also provide additional funding of $15 million for an information and education package to combat migrant worker exploitation, building on the Government’s strong agenda of protecting vulnerable migrant workers who speak out, and cracking down on employers who do the wrong thing.“We are delivering on our commitment to the security and prosperity of Australia by securing our borders and building a migration system which supports migrants and protects them from exploitation, while delivering the skills we need,” Clare O'Neil MP said .

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