Following this morning’s revelations that the Department of Immigration has turned a blind-eye to widespread rorting and corruption of Australia’s skilled and student visa programs, Labor Leader Bill Shorten has hit-out, claiming the Government has lost control of the visa system to “crooks and criminals”. From Yahoo:
Labor leader Bill Shorten is demanding answers from the government after labelling allegations of corruption within the nation’s customs agencies as a major crisis.
Immigration officials have been referred for investigation over alleged fraud in the skilled and student visa program, an ABC/Fairfax investigation has found.
“If the reports in today’s media are even half true, the Australian government has lost control of its visa system to the crooks and criminals,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.
It’s called the “population ponzi”, Bill. That is, the deliberate policy of shoveling as many immigrant consumers as possible into the economy in a bid to juice the FIRE (finance and real estate) sector.
It began in 2004 when the former Howard Government stealthily threw-open the immigration floodgates, while cracking down on refugee arrivals by sea. And every Federal Government since, including the Labor Rudd/Gillard Governments, have supported this policy.
Besides Bill, you yourself have previously called for a further boost in Australia’s immigration rate from its already turbo-charged level. This is what you said in 2013:
Australia should increase its immigration levels, Labor leadership hopeful Bill Shorten has declared, saying the next arrival could “be the next Albert Einstein or a good taxpayer”…
Speaking about immigration more broadly, Mr Shorten said Labor needed to re-state its support. Apart from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, everyone came to Australia by boat or plane, he said.
“I do believe the immigration levels can go up,” Mr Shorten said…
Immigration has been a plus for us and we should be certainly as a party being seen to be pro-immigration and pro increasing it, making sure people go to wherever it is sustainable for infrastructure and support, but we are an immigrant country and we shouldn’t ever hide from our destiny.”
Rather than it being “our destiny”, the key criteria that needs to be met in deciding what level of immigration is suitable for Australia is: “will it improve the living standards of the pre-existing population”? If the answer to this question is no, then policy makers should not proceed with expanding the immigration level, or preferably should curtail it to a level that provides net benefits to the pre-existing population.
Unfortunately, this analysis and public debate has never been undertaken, with Labor, the Coalition and The Greens effectively shutting down discussion for fears of being labeled “racist” or “xenophobic”.
Again, the only political party that is willing to discuss this important issue is the Sustainable Australia Party, which is why they have my vote in the Senate in the upcoming Federal Election.
