In the coming weeks, the opposition leader is expected to announce plans for a dramatic cut to the nation's migrant intake.
But she has now flagged further measures, promising to shore up the "integrity" of the immigration system, and ensure new arrivals share "Australian values" if she wins the next election.
"We're looking at every aspect of our migration system," she told Melbourne radio 3AW on Thursday.
"That includes the integrity of the system, the citizenship test, the character test."
Pressed on the definition of Australian values, Ms Ley said she wanted migrants to share in the opportunities the nation provides.
"Freedom of religion, freedom of expression, but a willingness to contribute, of course, is something ... I see in migrants everywhere," she said.
She is also preparing to give a major speech outlining her defence priorities if she wins government.
Ms Ley will argue the nation's "deteriorating global order" demands a rapid lift in military preparedness and a more resilient industrial base, underpinned by affordable and sovereign energy.
The opposition leader will outline three defence capabilities she says Australia must immediately invest in: an integrated air and missile defence system; the ability to rapidly produce and resupply unmanned and autonomous weapons; and a sovereign satellite-connectivity capability.
"If we fail to do these things now, the Australia we have known may not be the same tomorrow," Ms Ley will say in a national security speech at the Menzies Institute in Melbourne.
"War would deliver us a poorer, weaker, lonelier Australia."
Her pivot to defence policy comes after the coalition announced its joint energy and climate policy position following months of internal warring.
The party dumped its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, prioritising affordability and reliability over climate.
But it has chosen to stick with the Paris Agreement by looking at its nationally determined contributions under the treaty.
Ms Ley will link the energy policy to defence readiness, claiming Australia's fuel stocks and electricity grid are vulnerable to cyber attacks and supply shocks.
A fight is also brewing within the coalition over immigration, with the party's conservative flank pushing for dramatic cuts to Australia's migrant intake.
In a separate speech, Environment Minister Murray Watt will say Labor will not be distracted "by the circus on the coalition" whose policy will cause power bills to skyrocket and turn global investors away.
"Despite us knowing that climate change will drive even more disasters, the federal coalition has just told Queenslanders they don't care," he will say in a Queensland Media Club speech in Brisbane on Thursday.
Ms Ley said she would outline the principles of the migration policy before Christmas, but is unlikely to announce a formal figure until closer to the election.
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