One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said he would support migration bans from high-risk regions after senior Liberal figures disavowed leaked plans to suspend visa processing from “declared terrorist areas”.
There is an immigration cult in Canberra. It has nothing to do with national interest and everything to do with self-interest.
Because population growth adds to GDP, pollies don’t need to pursue reform to drive growth.
And it lifts their property portfolios.
Too easy!
They can just lie that the economy is growing for you, even though your share of it is shrinking.
The Rotten Tomato appeared this morning, and it piqued my interest.
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This led me to wonder, what is the ON target for immigration? And guess what, like every other party, they are quite positive! Here’s my summary.
- 75,000 unlawful migrants should be deported because Australia’s immigration regulations must be followed.
- Reduce immigration by more than 570,000 from current Labor levels by capping annual visas at 130,000 to alleviate the strain on infrastructure, wages, and housing.
- Put an end to the skilled visa rorting that undercuts Australian workers with low-cost overseas labour.
- Close the gaps in student visas that allow students to use their education as a means of obtaining low-paying jobs or permanent residency.
- Put a stop to the abuse of the Administrative Review Tribunal, which is clogged with pointless, weaponised appeals.
- Reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas, a tried-and-true measure that discourages unauthorised immigration.
- Any visa holder who violates the law should be deported.
- Establish an eight-year waiting time for aid and citizenship to make sure newcomers provide before they receive.
- Refuse to let in migrants from countries that are known to promote radical beliefs that are at odds with Australian values and culture.
- Exit the UN Refugee Convention since Australia will not allow foreign organisations to control who we allow into our country for humanitarian reasons.
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It’s not clear what ON means by “visas”. The only measure that makes sense for comparison is net overseas migration. 130,000 is the average from the mid-1980s to the 2000s.
130k is a marked improvement, but it is hardly closing the borders.
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In fact, the ON policy platform looks more like a way to bring integrity to the immigration system than it does to stop it.
Nonetheless, as the Boomer population bulge moves into a higher death rate, this will mean a much slower rate of population growth.
It is interesting to contrast this with the celebrated globalist of the centre-right, Mark Carney, PM of Canada, who has addressed its immigration distortions by reducing net migration to below zero.
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Likewise the US.
In the global movements towards tighter immigration restrictions, ON actually remains quite generous.
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