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Joe Walker interviewed former immigration department bureaucrat-turned-influencer Abul Rizvi last year.
During the interview, Rizvi openly acknowledged that slowing population ageing accounted for approximately “80%” of the motivation behind the 2001 changes that significantly increased Australia’s intake of migrants, particularly international students.
WALKER: And so back in the late 90s, early 2000s, when you were advising Ruddock and Costello and then persuading Howard to, you know, implement the changes that we did, how much of that decision was about slowing the rate of population aging? Was that the main motivation?
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.