The new opposition leader, whom we didn’t even bother reporting on, failed day one.
“We have to do better, there’s no question about that,” he told Sky News on Sunday, adding in relation to Ley that he “sought to be a supporter of her leadership, every single day”.
He said the opposition’s focus in the coming weeks and months would be on immigration and economic policy.
Taylor rebuffed suggestions that his policy would focus on keeping Muslims out of the country, saying it would focus on “closing the door” to immigrants who reject the rule of law and democratic freedoms.
“I would say this is not about any particular race or religion. It is about people who accept our way of life,” he said. “There’s no doubt that there’s a role for our intelligence agencies to play in this, and I think, a bigger role.”
He said cutting immigration for people who don’t share Australian values needed to be balanced with ensuring businesses had access to the skills they needed.
“You’ve got to bring people into this country with the skills that we need, and that sharp focus on those skill gaps has to be actually a focus for the government,” he said.
Fail. Total fail. Culture war over class war, again. Howard’s immigration bait and switch, again.
Here’s what he needed to say:
‘Australian immigration has been far too high for far too long.’
‘It has caused widespread housing shortages. Pricing successive generations out of housing. Australian youth today can no longer afford to buy houses in good areas, nor can they afford to rent in good areas, and the price of a home built by yourself in the remote corners of our cities is rising so fast that it triggered an interest rate hike last week.’
‘This is unfair and un-Australian.’
‘My Coalition government will freeze immigration at zero for three years to bring down rents and the price of new homes.’
‘Immigration intakes after that period will be reassessed with housing sustainability as a core input.’
‘Australian immigration has been far too high for far too long.’
‘It has caused widespread shortages in infrastructure and public services. Transport is clogged with scores of billions spent by states in vain attempts to catch up to where they used to. Every road or railway is crush-loaded by too much immigration even before it is complete. We are running full tilt to slide backwards.’
‘This is unfair, stupid economics, and un-Australian.’
‘My Coalition government will freeze immigration at zero for three years to restore the efficiency and freedom of our infrastructure.’
‘Immigration intakes after that period will be reassessed with infrastructure provision as a core input.’
‘Australian immigration has been far too high for far too long.’
‘It has caused widespread shortages in public services. Schools are piled high with demountables. Police cannot keep pace with crime. Your hospital wait grows every year. Ambulances arrive much more slowly; the health care system is buckling despite record public investment.’
‘This is unfair, stupid economics, and un-Australian.’
‘My Coalition government will freeze immigration at zero for three years to restore the integrity of the health care system and to give our fine frontline workers the breathing space to deliver on their promise.’
‘Immigration intakes after that period will be reassessed with public service provision as a core input.’
‘Australian immigration has been far too high for far too long and is stupid economics.’
Causing widespread shortages triggers excess labour demanding ever more immigration. There is no underlying shortage of workers.
This same phenomenon has destroyed Australian productivity, holding back both profits and wage growth while lifting interest rates.
‘My Coalition government will freeze immigration at zero for three years to restore the integrity of the economy, lift productivity, as well as profits and real wage growth without Labor’s immigration-led inflation.’
‘Immigration intakes after that period will be reassessed with economic performance as a core input.’
Fact check that you will find it is 100% correct.
Business will whine, but you simply say it is time for you to compete to get ahead.
Give it the fake left at the ABC and The Guardian, and they will scream racism, alienating everybody and giving the policy enormous coverage.
Every Australian with a brain will cheer, One Nation will disappear overnight, and the ALP be shaken to its core.
But no, let’s have a Sea Bass pretending he’s John Howard from another era when this one’s moved on.
Start the countdown to Andrew Hastie.
