Anthony Albanese won’t back government’s mass immigration plan

Labor has signalled that it won’t back the return of mass immigration after the government revealed it wants to take 160,000 new migrants each year.

Anthony Albanese has signalled Labor won’t back the return of mass immigration ahead of next year’s election after the government revealed it wants to take 160,000 new migrants each year.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Saturday revealed the government plans to increase Australia’s permanent migration by an extra 120,000 people than previously predicted over the next two years. The numbers will be unveiled on Thursday in the mid-year budget update.

Mr Frydenberg told The Australian the extra migrants “will support stronger economic activity, providing a welcome boost to our economic recovery”.

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese wants Australians trained to take up job opportunities. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will unveil his mid-year budget update on Thursday. Picture: AAP Image

But speaking to News Corp, Labor leader Mr Albanese refused to back the government’s move on migration, opening the way for the issue to be a battleground at the upcoming poll.

The government has been under pressure from business groups to bring forward the ­return to large-scale immigration as the economy suffers from a shortage of skilled workers as it roars back to life post-pandemic.

But senior Labor sources said they believed the government was vulnerable on the issue because workforce shortages were causing wages to rise and any move that threatened this would be unpopular.

Mr Albanese, who is campaigning hard on fixing Australia’s skills shortage, told News Corp “migration has always played an important role in the economy and will continue to in the recovery, but it’s important we take this opportunity to get the mix right.”

He said that “after almost two years of closed borders, (Prime Minister) Scott Morrison should be announcing his migration plan” instead of “chasing headlines”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will increase Australia’s permanent migration by an extra 120,000 people than previously predicted over the next two years. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Albanese said: “After eight years of attacks on training, the Liberals and Nationals are silent on why we’ve got skills shortages at the same time as 2 million Australians are unemployed or underemployed.”

He said that while migration was important, “I also know it shouldn’t be a substitute for training Australian workers for Australian jobs”, adding “we should not be a country where Australian workers are cut off from job opportunities”.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has predicted unemployment in Australia will drop to 4 per cent over the next 18 months, at which point industries will be suffering acute labour shortages.

But RBA Governor Philip Lowe has made it clear the bank believes there is a direct relationship between low wage growth in recent years and the high rate of immigration.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, population growth in the year to March 2021 was entirely due to natural increase while net overseas migration saw a drop of 95,300 people, the first such drop since 1946.