PM must show us he’s listening on immigration

The party that agrees to put the brakes on immigration to allow our roads, hospitals and schools to catch up will give voters a real choice at the next election, writes Peta Credlin.

Before we get too smug about how much better things are here than in the UK, it’s worth considering how much of what passes for political debate in Australia is “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.

This week we’ve had a pledge of protection against discrimination on the grounds of religion, a commitment to a national integrity commission, and the promise of a population policy sometime in the New Year. In each case, the devil is in the detail.

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How you protect mainstream Christianity without also protecting religious extremism is far from clear. Why we need yet another behavioural watchdog on top of all the other ones has not been demonstrated. And asking state governments to determine national population policy on a state-by-state basis is what you do when you don’t actually want to have a coherent population policy.

We need to put the brakes on immigration to allow infrastructure to catch up.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is a big improvement on his predecessor because he speaks clearly, has the energy to throw himself into campaigning and is a tribal Liberal. But right now, he’s in danger of trying to be all things to everyone. Of all these issues, immigration is the most potent and it intersects Labor, Liberal and Green supporters if the polls are to be believed. Rather than tell us he’s listening on immigration, the PM must to show us. Seeking input from the states is one thing but using it as cover to push any hard decision beyond the election is transparently weak.

RELATED: We’re more united on immigration than we think

This weekend, Bill Shorten will front Labor’s National Conference to outline his vision ahead of the 2019 election. The first leader that’s prepared to make a firm decision to substantially reduce Australia’s population trajectory to let us all take a breather, to let our roads, hospitals, schools and communities catch up, will give voters a real choice at the next election.

Will either of them step up?