For years, MB has questioned the efficacy of the Migration Council of Australia, which purports to be an “an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit body established to enhance the productive benefits of Australia’s migration and humanitarian programs”.
The Migration Council is chaired by one of Australia’s biggest business lobbyists, Innes Willox, who is also CEO of the Australian Industry Group.
For years, Innes Willox has lobbied against laws to prevent wage theft, lobbied against stricter labour hire rules, and has spread copious propaganda about skills shortages.
Today, Willox is at it again, attacking the Coalition’s tiny cut in Australia’s permanent migrant intake:
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said permanent migration should have stayed at 190,000, arguing strong population growth had contributed to the nation’s uninterrupted period of economic growth since the 1990-91 recession.
“The government’s plan to formalise a drop in the permanent migration program means that we will potentially miss out on a share of the future economic gains the program would deliver for Australia,” he said.
Only this time, Willox has been joined by the Migration Council CEO, Carla Wilshire:
The Migration Council Australia said the drop in the intake would undermine the labour market and business confidence.
Chief executive Carla Wilshire said the migration program “adds significantly to our GDP and provides an underlying level of economic growth critical for our long-term economic outlook”.
Let’s just ask the question: does the Migration Council exist as a lobby to benefit migrants and Australians or is it only there to enable business to exploit cheap labour to the detriment of migrants and the Australian community?
