With Australia’s permanent migration program already an insane 180,000 in 2017-18 – more than double the level at the turn of the century:
And net overseas migration (NOM) running at more than triple the historical average, which is projected to continue for decades to come:
Labor’s national conference agreed to effectively double Australia’s humanitarian migrant intake from 16,250 currently to 32,000. From The AFR:
Labor leader Bill Shorten has avoided an internal fight over asylum-seeker policy by agreeing to changes that would see Australia gradually expand its annual humanitarian intake to 32,000 people…
The current humanitarian intake is 16,250 and will rise to 18,750 this financial year.
Labor agreed at its last conference to increase this to 27,000 by 2025. The extra 5000 under the community sponsorship plan would take this total to 32,000 over time.
MB has previously supported Australia’s humanitarian intake being raised from its low current level of 16250 people in 2017-18. However, this must be done alongside large cuts to Australia’s non-humanitarian intake (currently capped at 190,000, but actually 162,500 in 2017-18). Such a policy would achieve dual goals: significantly reducing overall population growth, thereby relieving pressures on infrastructure, housing, the environment, and wages, while also being a good and caring global citizen.
There is also a strong moral argument against poaching skilled workers from developing nations, in turn stifling their economic development, just so they can work in lower skilled roles in Australia.
In short, simply lifting the humanitarian intake to 32,000 people without offsets is a retrograde step and would be destructive to both Australia’s natural environment and living standards.
Clearly, all the recent angst over mass immigration has gone over Labor’s head, which has gone all in a ‘Big Australia’.
