Australian prosperity faces a “significant detrimental impact” if a One Nation plan to cut three-quarters of a million migrants comes to fruition, a peak business body is warning.

Pauline Hanson’s surging anti-immigration party has vowed to axe 750,000 temporary visas over three years as part of a “net-negative” migration policy, with international students to bear the brunt of the slashing.

“That type of cut would have a significant detrimental impact on our economic growth and on our prospects to deliver prosperity for all Australians,” Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black told ABC Radio on Monday.

“The starting point for any conversation with respect to migration can’t be simply having the objective of cutting numbers.”

As parliament restarts in Canberra for the final sitting week for a month, One Nation is seeking to capitalise on a surge in momentum in opinion polls this year, with the populist party emerging as a threat to many electorates held by the major parties.

“They couldn’t give a damn about the impact mass migration has had on everyday living standards of Australians,” Hanson said of the major parties in a video to social media.

Black said an ageing population and chronic shortages of essential workers meant Australia could not afford to turn away swathes of skilled migrants.

“Come 2060, we can expect a gap between revenue and expenditure of $140 billion a year … one in three occupations reports a skills shortage,” he said, citing Treasury forecasts.

“Historically and into the future, Australia is going to need skilled migrants.”

Hanson said universities would still be able to enrol more than 100,000 international students a year and the cut wouldn’t affect regional worker schemes.

“They couldn’t give a damn about the impact mass migration has had on everyday living standards of Australians,” she said of the major parties in a video to social media.

One Nation’s plan would aim to deliver three years of net-negative migration to bring the temporary migrant population down to levels not seen since 2017.

It would also “run a wrecking ball through the Australian economy”, according to Labor MP Patrick Gorman, touting the importance of the education sector, which thanks to international students is the country’s third-largest export.

“It has taken 30 years for Senator Hanson to put her migration policy together, and it has fallen apart in just 30 minutes,” Gorman said.

“It is a large export, and it’s a way that we welcome people into Australia for a temporary period of time, so we can sell them an education product.”

The proposal has already been slammed by the National Farmers’ Federation, which has warned of wide-reaching impacts if regional producers cannot get workers.

Coalition immigration spokesperson Jonathon Duniam told News24 he was sceptical due to the lack of detail in the policy.

“I look at those numbers and I sort of wonder what works gone on behind the scenes to actually arrive at those numbers. How have they decided they’re the numbers they want to cut by?” he said.

It follows weeks of speculation around One Nation’s migration policy, with the party originally committing to an annual net overseas migration rate of 130,000 people.

In August, federal One Nation MP David Farley said there could be an extra 100,000 on top of that – would would outpace the government’s own target of 225,000.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke delayed a National Press Club speech in August in which he was widely expected to announce migration cuts. It is understood cabinet is still finalising plans.

Australia’s net overseas migration fell to 301,000 in 2025, a 45 per cent decrease from the post-Covid peak in 2023 and down 9 per cent from 2024.

Hanson has also come under fire for her personal attacks on Liberal MP Andrew Hastie and Albanese’s disabled late mother.

Hastie, a Coalition frontbencher and former SAS officer, was referred to as a “traitor” in a One Nation cartoon and labelled a “wanker” by Hanson.

Comments from Hanson in a podcast appearance in February also emerged at the weekend, in which she criticised Mary Albanese for living in public housing for decades.

Labor cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek said Hanson was picking on some of the most vulnerable people in the country.

“People who have ill health or disability for decades she says don’t deserve a roof over their head. I think that’s appalling, and she should apologise.”

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce defended Senator Hanson’s comments.

“The premise of that question was, should people live in public housing forever? Which the answer is no, because we just don’t have enough,” Joyce told the Seven Network’s Sunrise.

-AAP