John Howard urges mature debate on Australia’s immigration policy
John Howard says it is “ludicrous” to label moves to slash Australia’s migrant intake “racist” and urged the country to have a mature debate on the issue.
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John Howard says it is “ludicrous” to label moves to slash Australia’s migrant intake “racist” and urged the country to have a mature debate on the issue.
The former prime minister’s intervention on the issue comes as Scott Morrison prepares plans to overhaul Australia’s migration program which he will discuss with state premiers tomorrow.
The Daily Telegraph uncovered last month discussions were underway within in the government about lowering the immigration ceiling from 190,000 — possibly to 160,000.
“It’s for the government to decide the size of the program,” Mr Howard said today.
“We’ve surely got to have enough maturity about the program to debate the size of the immigration program without even a suggestion that people who want to cut it are motivated by racism. That’s ludicrous.”
Mr Howard, who when he was prime minister overhauled the immigration program to focus in skilled migrants, said the government of the day should be able to argue the case for reforms.
He said that every prime minister in the past 40 years agreed that “migration is good for the country” but that didn’t mean there was reason to make changes from time to time.
The Daily Telegraph revealed Scott Morrison will give state premiers a January deadline to advise him, region-by-region, what industries would be crying out for skilled migrants over the next 15 years at a meeting on Wednesday.
Premier will also need to assess the role of temporary and permanent migration as well as by visa class, such as skilled, humanitarian and family.
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