TRANSCRIPT
It's an idea popularised by Willy Wonka, a character in Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
“It's a golden ticket. You've found Wonka's last golden ticket."
Introduced by Labor in 2012, the Significant Investor provisional visa, or SIV, also known as the golden ticket visa, granted permanent residency to wealthy individuals who invested at least $5 million in Australia.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke is not fond of it.
"The Productivity Commission on Cash For Visas said, and I quote, 'There is no case for retaining this category of permanent visa.' If you believe in the integrity of the program, you don't reintroduce cash for visas!"
After Labor axed the visa last year, debate has reignited following a private pledge made by Peter Dutton in a conversation with immigration agent Min Li [[lee]] last week.
MIN: "We did the first significant investor program."
DUTTON: "Oh yes yes yes yes."
MIN: "Ten years ago. We stopped for three years, everyone asks me when is it coming back?"
DUTTON: "I think we'll bring it back whether we go it before the election or we actually look at a different design for it, we'll have to consider all of that.”
While not an official election commitment, Mr Dutton publicly supported his private pledge as he praised the benefits of foreign investment last week.
"I don’t think there’s anything remarkable in saying that we want to attract high net wealth individuals to our country who can bring potentially hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in projects. And you can define asset classes, or you can say that you can't invest in this, or you can't invest in that, but you can invest in in this area. People bringing money to our country and investing has been part of the success that we've got. And one of the things I think we should do in this country, to be honest, is celebrate the success that people have had from working hard and contributing to society, particularly those in small businesses or Chinese or Indian Australians who have come here with nothing and started to work hard and build a fortune or educated their kids."
While the scheme injected $11.7 billion into Australia’s economy, a Productivity Commission review found that prioritising investment visas over skilled visas left the economy at least $3.4 billion worse off compared to alternative migration streams.
The report concluded there was no case for retaining this category of visa.
The Parkinson Review suggested that if the visa were to remain, it should be much more sharply targeted to select migrants able to drive innovative investment.
Former Immigration Department Deputy Secretary Abul Rizvi says some were exploiting the scheme:
"The objective of the visa was to increase investment in Australia. But what actually turned out was that people were buying retirement in Australia for a very, very cheap price."
The SIV scheme subclass 188 was introduced by the Julia Gillard government in 2012.
It allowed applicants who invested at least $5 million into approved channels, such as capital and growth private equity funds or Australian Stock Exchange-listed companies, to stay in Australia for up to five years.
There was no English-language requirement for the visa and no upper age limit.
Foreign investors had to show genuine intention to hold the investment for the life of the visa and could apply for permanent residency, provided they met certain requirements.
More than 2,300 Significant Investor Visas were issued over 12 years, with 85 per cent of successful applicants coming from China.
In 2024, then-home affairs minister Clare O'Neil scrapped the subclass, claiming it was being exploited by corrupt officials and was simply a method for people to buy their way into the country.
But Zhou Bin, an immigration consultant, defends the stream.
"The investor doesn’t buy the visa, they really put money into Australia to make contribution to Australia."
Ms Bin, who helped design the visa policy under the former Gillard government, acknowledges that visa exploitation issues are inevitable.
"As long as you put all the people in their home country, and not allow them to travel, then maybe you will solve this problem."
If the Coalition were to reinstate visas for wealthy investors, it remains unclear how this would align with its broader plan to slash net overseas migration, or whether other visa categories would be cut as a result.
Mr Dutton has said the Opposition's migration targets will be revealed after the election, where record-high immigration under Labor will be a key attack line.
