MARK RILEY: Pauline Hanson’s heavy-handed migration plan could hurt jobs, growth and regional communities

Making cuts to the migration system isn’t like clear felling a forest.

A government can’t simply move in with the bulldozers and wipe out entire programs without leaving a massive bare patch in the economy.

It’s a difficult and detailed process of snipping leaves judiciously and training branches to precise heights to create a neat overall canopy without killing the roots.

Hacking down an entire forest is quick and easy. It earns instant applause from voters who are angry about the changing character of the landscape.

Take One Nation’s proposal to cut a deep swathe through international student numbers.

It is the biggest single component of the party’s promise to produce net-negative migration for three years in order to reset the system towards a long-term intake of 130,000 people a year.

Pauline Hanson promises to cut the number of international student visas from 590,000 to 350,000.

She is also promising to slash the companion class of temporary graduate visas from 230,000 to just 40,000.

That’s 470,000 fewer total student arrivals — a reduction of 55 per cent — in just three years.

It is an extreme cut that would have extreme economic and social consequences.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that international education contributed about $54 billion to the economy last year.

That makes it the fourth-largest export contributor to the economy, behind iron ore, coal and gas.

The contribution roughly breaks down to around $24 billion in tuition fees and about $30 billion in taxes, housing, food and services.

Pauline Hanson’s cuts to that sector alone would cost Australia $30 billion a year in lost revenue.