Labor is tightening visa rules for international students and backpackers, while increasing efforts to remove overstayers as it seeks greater control over migration.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said housing pressures mean net overseas migration forecasts are now considered a target that must be met.
Labor will carry out changes that can be made under existing powers but still wants a parliamentary path for further reforms targeting student arrivals and weak protection visa claims.
Australia will crack down on visa overstayers, stop international students from bringing family and limit the stay of backpackers under a series of changes to drive down migration.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has outlined a set of changes he said would restore the "integrity" of the migration program and give the federal government more "control" over the demand-driven components of the system.
In a speech at the National Press Club (NPC) in Canberra on Thursday Mr Burke described the overhaul as the "next stage" of policies designed to deliver the net overseas migration (NOM) figures in the budget of 245,000 this year and 225,000 next financial year.
Net overseas migration fell to 292,100 people in the year to March, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released today.
Labor's announcement comes as One Nation unveiled plans to push the country into negative NOM for three years and then 130,000 after that, while the Coalition is finalising plans for a policy expected to target between 150,000 to 170,000 people.