Abul Rizvi, former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration and one of the architects of Australia’s faux ‘skilled’ migration program, continues to shill for a ‘Big Australia’, this time arguing that the nation faces an ageing population and a decline in the birth rate if restrictions on overseas migration are not eased:
A slump in immigration will supercharge population ageing and see more declines in fertility, leading to long-run economic growth falling by about a third, an expert has warned. Abul Rizvi, a former senior official in the Immigration Department, estimates net overseas migration (NOM) will fall from more than 230,000 — over the 12 months to last September — to about 175,000 a year on average over the next decade, even after international borders are reopened.
“The NOM was already slowing down even before the coronavirus and these trends will continue,” he said, pointing to falling offshore student visas and fewer skilled temporary entrants and permanent visas being issued by the government. A lower NOM contributes to lower births because immigrants are much younger than 45, on average”…
