CANBERRA – The Liberal Party leadership has reaffirmed its commitment to using net overseas migration figures from the 2022-23 financial year, citing the unique benefits of statistics that have been allowed to mature undisturbed for nearly two years.
Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume told multiple broadcasters this week that half a million migrants were arriving each year, a figure that last reflected reality before the Coalition lost government.
Net overseas migration in the year to June 2025 was 305,570, a number widely available in the Australian Bureau of Statistics quarterly release, the Treasury website, and the federal budget Hume helped scrutinise from the Opposition benches.
A senior Coalition spokesperson said the older figure had been chosen for its consistency.
“We have found 555,800 has a particular ring to it that 305,570 cannot replicate. As a frontbench team we have agreed not to disturb the more recent number.”
The Coalition’s commitment to legacy statistics represents the most disciplined data-preservation effort by an Australian political party since the original Closing the Gap targets were set in 2008. Several of those targets, the National Indigenous Australians Agency confirmed in February, remain on track to be reached at some future point that has not been disclosed.
Three of the four Closing the Gap indicators currently flagged as worsening, including adult incarceration and children in out-of-home care, have continued to update in real time without political assistance.
Independent fact-checkers have asked the front bench to refresh its source dataset before the next sitting fortnight. The shadow ministry declined, citing existing media commitments.
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