After Labor ministers last week flagged a massive ramp-up in immigration, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today threw his support behind an increase in Australia’s permanent migrant intake:
Anthony Albanese has addressed the issues of migration and visa backlogs in relation to skills shortages, saying Australia needs to create better pathways for workers to have a permanent presence in the country.
The Labor government had inherited a “massive” backlog in visas, the prime minister told reporters on Monday.
“It is absurd at a time of skills shortages, there have people who have been waiting for such a long period of time,” he said.
“We do have some short-term skills shortages that will always need to be filled by temporary migration”.
Mr Albanese said temporary migration would continue to play a role, but also indicated the possibility of more long-term or permanent options.
“One of the things that we can consider, that I’ve spoken about, is — how is (it) that for some particular professions, that have been short of supply for such a long period of time, we continue to rely on temporary migration rather than more permanent forms?”
He said allowing more permanent forms would make a “significant difference”.
“We have a global labour market, we need to acknowledge that,” he said.
“And we need to make sure that we have better pathways as well to a permanent presence in Australia for people to give us the skills that they need.”
Lifting permanent migration will obviously expand Australia’s population base over time, since temporary visa holders must eventually leave if they cannot transition to permanent residency.
The latest Intergenerational Report already projected that Australia’s population would balloon by 13.1 million people to 38.8 million by 2062 on the back of extreme immigration of 235,000 people a year:
IGR: Extreme immigration forever…
Clearly, Anthony Albanese supports an even bigger Australia. This puts him at odds with the Australian public, which overwhelming does not support pre-COVID levels of immigration, nor higher.
Here are some genuine questions for Anthony Albanese regarding its ‘Big Australia’ immigration policy:
- Australia’s rental vacancy rates already the lowest on record and rents are rising by 9.5% annually. Where will the hundreds of thousands of migrants imported every year live if there aren’t enough homes to house the existing resident population?
- How will Australia meet its emissions reduction targets when it is adding hundreds of thousands of migrant consumers every single year?
- How does importing hundreds of thousands of migrant consumers help solve Australia’s energy shortages? Won’t adding to energy demand simply make the problems worse?
As always, the negative externalities from high immigration are never considered by the Big Australia crew. We are supposed to believe that migrants don’t use housing, nor consume resources and energy, nor add to Australia’s carbon footprint.
Anybody hoping for a more moderate and sustainable immigration policy under Labor must surely be disappointed.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
- Unemployment lifts as more Aussies hunt for work - August 10, 2022
- Aussie inflation expectations hit 8-year high - August 10, 2022
- Albo launches another bogus housing supply council - August 10, 2022
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN
Chinese Australians to force Liberal grovel?
I know it's not done to talk about anything
Mike Cannon-Sunshinethief?
Not joking. As perverse as it seems,
Albo launches another bogus housing supply council
Academics from the University of Adelaide and the
ACTU demands regulation of "rapacious" energy cartels
No change yesterday as the gas cartel squeezed
Lack of criminal and corrupt behaviour aside, they really are off to an average start.
I think even the ICAC will be derailed from the agenda. Labor needs to enforce domestic gas reservation and kill Big Australia today.
Both stalls in the toilet were always going to go for a return to this nonsense.
Life won’t be easy under Albanese
Lame. Change your material. Yawn.
Is he wrong in his assertion?
Yes he is, because it implies that it will be worse under Albanese than Scumo.
You have to read Reus in reverse. He’s always accurate if you do that. Think of it as opposite day. Or alternates’ day.
We’ll be eatin’ nuffin but mutton under Dutton
lol!!!
Albo’s snowflake electorate stopped him doing anything with immigration previously, now its been stopped its the perfect opportunity to ramp it back up to just 70-100k a year without upsetting his inner city wanker electorate – but he wont 🙁
Only issue is,
the new people won’t be able to afford the flight!
Or to live here….lol.
Struggling to get my head around the concept that someone can ostensibly claim to be from the Australian Labour Party and yet find no inherent contradiction with that affiliation and quotes such as this:
“We have a global labour market, we need to acknowledge that,” he said.
No one who represents the Australian labour force would ever say that. Never. Not in a million years.
Therefore….
OMG, not again, this is the 3rd time I’ve agreed with you in 3 months!
Yep. What a fk’n joke. From a bloke from a Party that only 3 out of their first preference to.
Be Independent. Vote Independent!
Exactly what I was thinking. How can a man, that claims to be part of the labor party, say that? The thing they can most do to shaft local workers who they are supposed to represent.
Unsurprising but still disappointing.
Question: When do they take their boot of the throat of Australia?
Will they do so voluntarily?
Crazy
“We have a global labour market”
Ah yes! Looking forward to going and applying for a job in Luxembourg or China.
Or is the global labour market a one way street on the road to lower wages?
Albo the globalist.
Who voted for that sh1t?
Stupid Albo, doesn’t seem to realise a recession is already upon the world (maybe worse a deflationary driven recession, ref Snider on Macrovoices) which will likely hit just as all his immigrants start arriving! #onetermAlbo which will be such a shame as Labor have already taken a lot of positive steps undoing the neolib mistakes.
PS. No immigration without full federal funding of infrastructure, health, education etc, I say.
Can someone please tell me why they think that a politician being turfed from office, after they’ve achieved the objects required of them by their masters , is considered a fate worse than imprisonment or death?
It pays to think of the political class as contractors who get a four year contract to serve a need for industry/ oligarchs before they retire to the comfort of the back bench or their post-politics executive appointments.
If they get a second contract it’s happy days but the idea is to get in, get the job done and then accept the severance package from your industry benefactors.
Booting a politician who’s already performed their dirty deeds is more throwing Briar Rabbit into the Briar patch than a walk of shame.
Thinking you only need to run a country four years at a time is a major reason we have the problems we do.
Thinking anyone is actually ‘voted in’ to do anything let alone ‘run the country’ for four years is a bigger part of the problem:
I didn’t vote for this, ALP! Nuts. We don’t have enough housing for our existing population and hospitals are struggling. Back to cheering for the next horrible COVID wave to shut down international flights and airports. It is the only way.
And that was what he was meant to tell us before the election, along with giving Non-citizens voting rights. Giving non-citizens voting rights is what tge Democrats are trying in the US, as Albo would well know. Unfortunately our Constitution doesn’t seem to preclude it, unlike the US :
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/n-y-supreme-court-strikes-down-nyc-law-granting-voting-rights-to-noncitizen-residents/
Actually that was about giving the legally resident taxpayers of New York city a limited say in how they are taxed and where the money is spent even if they are not US citizens
The right see this as more illegal immigrants voting but thats not really the issue
The issue is that the 10% of the people who actually pay all the taxes in NYC are leaving because the basics ( reasonable schools, some basic sanitation and the ability to get to work without getting killed) are being subverted by the current voting blocks which are basically, the city unions, and those on city welfare.
Personally I think they should give legally resident tax “payers” some say, it wont change anything but if it keeps them in the city for another tax year its probably worth it.
As to the whole “not citizens” issue, cities are economic entities, they don’t have sovereignty and as long as you have money to tax they really really really want you.
Rudd was gone roughly three months after stating he believed in a big Australia. #lessthanhalftermAlbo
Rudd going had nothing to do with “big australia”.
As I recall he was asked about immigration on air and his reply was along the lines “I believe in a big Australia and Australia of x million” soon after he was gone.
So, what does that prove? The old “correlation does not imply causation!” Rudd went as his popularity was on the nose.
The LNP has never had any policy other than “big australia” since John @rsewhole” Howard and they’ve done pretty well getting themselves elected on it.
Rudd was ousted with the combined force of the treasonous Gillard and the mining lobby wagon she hitched a ride on.
Yes, but his toppling was achieved because his pop had tanked with Gillard becaming PM Sept 2010: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/rudds-popularity-tanks/lw1cifs8w
The mining companies got rid of him. End of.
If we are to force feed immigrants in, force them into new housing not purchase a house. And the new housing cannot be a sub-divided block less than xx sq metres.
Sorry, but that will never work. They’d agree to it start with, and then watch the lobbyists getting that weakened yr by yr.
Once upon a time lot size and the disappearance of the backyard was a topic
https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/6449/
https://amp.smh.com.au/national/the-disappearing-australian-backyard-20070904-gdr0x2.html
https://apo.org.au/node/3514
Ship already sailed. You should see some of the dross buildings being knocked up in folks backyard & mislabelled housing:(
The temporary immigration policy of the Coalition was always stupid and counterproductive. Allowing highly skilled legal immigrants to stay permanently, as long as they keep their noses clean for a reasonable period of time makes more sense. And how about allowing high levels of immigration from our “Pacific Family”? That will strengthen our national security.
But let’s try and do it in a way where our working class is not displaced by cheap labour. I liked Leith’s idea of a high wage requirement. We could also go further by structurally tying immigration to housing supply. Big Australia is a fine aspiration but if Labor does not do it right then at the next election Peter Dutton will be elected by a disgruntled working class and immigration will grind to a halt.
Unfortunately, I do not hold much hope that a prime minister from inner city Sydney understands the effect of high levels of immigration on the rest of the country. It’s likely he will inadvertently torpedo Big Australia before it has a chance.
Allowing high levels of immigration from our “Pacific Family” wont do all that much for our security. We need to support their local issues with more largess as its island votes that drive island political decisions. Once they have left the islands they have no political clout.
But I do agree we should open up to seasonal workers at fair rates of pay and conditions. They should accrue pro-rata super ( possibly managed by a Aus Govt fund). We also need to invest a lot more into a regional sports program, regional education ( ie: university and tech places).
Whether you voted Albo or Scomo, it seems you have voted for the same party. The inner city Sydney party.
The teal independents are sprouting the same nonsense as well. Why is it these people get given power?
I just want a “born in Australia” allocation of water that I can divide and bequeath to my kids, and grandkids!. Yes you can laugh now while we are flooded, but soon enough we will be back into drought. Mass immigration with no new large dams => severe water rationing eventually.