Pressure within the Turnbull to cut Australia’s mass immigration intake continues to build, with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott this morning repeating his call to slash immigration to alleviate pressures on housing affordability and infrastructure. From The SMH:
Former prime minister Tony Abbott says there is nothing “sacrosanct” about Australia’s immigration numbers and says the government should reduce the migration program to ease housing pressures…
“There are supply factors and there are demand factors. And one thing the federal government could do that would ease some of the demand pressure is to scale back immigration at least until land release and infrastructure can keep up,” Mr Abbott told reporters on Monday night.
“And frankly there is nothing sacrosanct about any particular immigration number. The Howard government scaled back immigration its first few years for a whole host of reasons”…
Mr Abbott first suggested immigration be slashed in February as part of a five-point manifesto for the Coalition to take to the next election.
Abbott’s latest salvo follows immigration minister, Peter Dutton’s, admission over the weekend that mass immigration is placing undue pressures on housing and infrastructure in the big cities.
It looks like it is now only a matter of time until Australia’s immigration intake is cut by the Government.
If Labor had any brains, it would beat the Coalition to the punch and argue to cut immigration on the grounds that maintaining a mass intake is illogical when labour underutilisation is high, wages are barely growing, and people cannot afford homes. You know, argue along the lines of traditional Labor values (which the party sadly no longer represents).
