60 Minutes last night did a great job analysing the ‘Big Australia’ debate, and certainly put the ABC’s recent biased investigations to shame.
The best excerpt is in Part One, when reporter Liam Bartlett wedged Immigration Minister Alan Tudge, who couldn’t even answer when asked how big Australia’s population should become:
Liam Bartlett: “How big do you want to see Australia”.
Alan Tudge: “I think Australia can grow. But it is the question on how we manage that growth”.
Liam Bartlett: “Yeah, but by how much?”
Alan Tudge: “That is the central question. It depends on the period of time you are looking as well”.
Liam Bartlett: “2051. Give me that figure?”
Alan Tudge: “So, it again depends on how well we can manage this growth, right”?
Liam Bartlett: “Yeah, but give me the figure”? Because the ABS said 25 million by 2051, but we hit that last year. So, give me that figure”.
Alan Tudge: “The ABS figure was based on looking at the past growth rate and projecting forward based on that growth rate”.
Liam Bartlett: “Yeah, and they got it wrong”.
Alan Tudge: “Depending on what our settings are will determine what ultimately our population will be in 2050. Undoubtedly we will be bigger”.
Of course, the reason why the population growth so badly overshot the ABS’ earlier predictions is because the federal government massively increased the migrant intake:
In Part Two, Liam Bartlett again takes Alan Tudge to the Woolshed:
Liam Bartlett: “So, when are we going to hit 30 million”?
Alan Tudge: “We outline a 10-year, for example, infrastructure pipeline”.
Liam Bartlett: “Great, so where are we in 10-years?”
Alan Tudge: “In part we’re going through a process”.
Liam Bartlett: “30 million? 35 million? 40 million? Stop me when I am getting close”
Amazing isn’t it? The federal government sets immigration policy. And yet the immigration minister can’t even answer the most simple of questions.
Well done 60 Minutes.
