Minister 'concerned' at setting migration targets

The number of migrants coming to Australia needs to come down, the immigration minister says, but a set multi-year target would not be helpful.

Tony Burke said the migration intake was continuing to fall and was 40 per cent below its peak in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.

While the Department of Home Affairs has announced plans to commit to a four-year immigration target, Mr Burke said that would not be the right approach.

"What I am concerned about is if you overcommit where you will be at in future years, you miss some of the changed needs of the nation that we have," Mr Burke told ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.

"I never want to have a situation where we feel committed because we announced this is where we'd be three years earlier, and we lose some of the flexibility we need to take advantage of exactly what Australia needs."

In September, the federal government announced 185,000 permanent visas would be made available in 2025/26, leaving the rates unchanged from the previous financial year.

Mr Burke said the overall migration rate would be tailored to what the country needs.

"The net overseas migration figure we're expecting will continue to soften ... and that's just getting us to appropriate levels post-pandemic," he said.

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam said the government should carry out a methodical process for determining what future migration levels looked like.

"It's time for (the government) to be transparent about how they're factoring all of these things in, like housing, health, education, public services, as to how they get the numbers," he told Sky News.

"Australians broadly agree, and indeed the minister himself has said, that (the migration level) is too high."

The minister stressed the need to keep the debate surrounding migration respectful.

"People used to talk about being able to engage in dog whistle politics, and you give a message, and only certain people would really hear what you were saying. It's not a dog whistle any more. It's a set of bag pipes coming over the hill," he said.

"We are a multicultural nation, and when people sledge multicultural Australia, there are a whole lot of Australian citizens who hear it, feel it deeply."