Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has rejected suggestions that Australia is moving towards a United States-style immigration enforcement model following opposition over the government's migration reforms.
Burke announced the new policy settings on Thursday, with the most consequential changes targeting "visa-hoppers", overstayers, students and backpackers in a bid to bring down net overseas migration figures.
People who overstay their visas, a cohort of about 77,000 people, would face tougher enforcement measures under the government's plans, including the prospect of detention. To discourage overstaying, the government will add 250 beds and 100 compliance officers, restoring capacity Burke said existed before 2015.
Under the pre-2015 approach, Burke said overstayers were detained and generally organised their own flights home within a matter of weeks.
The announcement nonetheless drew comparisons to US President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement action, carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency since he took office last year.
The agency has taken an aggressive approach to enforcement, detention and deportation, triggering mass protests, legal challenges and debate over the treatment of migrants.
In an interview with SBS News, Burke was asked about this characterisation.
Burke said he had been concerned that part of his speech would be "misrepresented"
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre described Thursday as a "dark day for multicultural Australia", arguing the reforms would expand Australia's immigration enforcement and detention system and warning it would have serious consequences for asylum seekers and refugees.
Migration Institute of Australia chief executive Peter van Vliet said it was a "complete overstatement" to compare Labor's plan to ICE tactics, describing Australia's arrangement before 2015 as "fairly soft" and uncontroversial.