Andrew Bolt: When will Australian politicians listen to voters on immigration?

The sheer size of our legal immigration intake is a challenge when housing is scarce, our cities are bursting, real wage growth is stagnant and our cultural elites preach a toxic hatred of Australia.

The United Nations tells a lie to get us to back mass immigration, especially from the Third World.

“Diversity of humanity is our greatest strength,” it says.

Except last weekend even the woke Dutch government collapsed from all that diversity meant to make Holland so strong.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte resigned on Sunday when his coalition partners refused to cut the number of relatives that refugees can sponsor to the Netherlands to just 200 a month.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has resigned. Picture: AFP

But it’s not just the Dutch government left reeling by the great surge of poor people to rich countries – about five million, last year alone.

Around the West, the walls are now going up, not just against illegal immigrants but the mass immigration that last week had France burning in race riots. You see, too much diversity is actually a challenge.

In France, Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party wants to slash immigration and demand more integration from its 10 per cent Muslim minority, now leads in polls as the next president.

In Italy, Giorgia Meloni became prime minister last October promising to curb mass immigration, mainly from North Africa and Poland, last week demanded the European Union do more to stop illegal immigration.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has promised to curb mass immigration. Picture: AFP

Finland last month elected a new government promising to cut refugee quotas and make it harder for foreigners to get citizenship.

Sweden, once the pin-up of the Left, now suffers high rates of ethnic crime, and this year said it would restrict unskilled foreign workers by doubling the minimum they had to earn to be allowed in.

On it goes. Hungary fenced off its border to keep out illegal immigrants, and Greece is doing the same.

Denmark, which already rejects nearly half the applications for citizenship, will now tighten the rules even more, and in 2019 said it would send refugees home once safe.

In Germany, support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party has doubled to about 20 per cent since the 2021 election.

In Britain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants new powers to deport illegal immigrants, and 25 of his Conservative MPs insist he also slash legal immigration, which added 600,000 to the population last year.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants new powers to deport illegal immigrants. Picture: Getty

And in the US, President Joe Biden is finally restricting illegal immigration across the Mexican border, after letting in 1.3 million illegals in his first two years.

Only in Australia and in Canada is the door swinging open even wider. The Albanese government is bringing in an extraordinary 400,000 immigrants, net, this financial year, even though polls show most Australians don’t much like it.

But when did politicians ever listen to the voters on immigration?

Well, even Rutte now has.

The Dutch Prime Minister is no hard man of the Right, but he can see many Dutch think the Netherlands – with 17 million people, but so small that it would fit into Victoria five times – is full.

There’s a critical shortage of housing, in particular. What a coincidence: just like in Sydney and Melbourne.

The Albanese government is bringing in an extraordinary 400,000 immigrants, net, this financial year. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Yet at the same time, Holland last year took in 45,000 asylum seekers, and for many Dutch that seems crazy.

But underlying the talk of Holland’s housing shortage, there’s also an underlying uneasiness with crime rates in some immigrant communities, and a lack of integration.

Just two months ago I chatted to Michael, I’ll call him, who cleans for two of my Dutch relatives.

Michael came to the Netherlands from Ghana some 15 years ago, yet still can’t speak Dutch.

He said some Ghanaian friends in Amsterdam were now thinking of moving next to Britain. He could rattle off the superior welfare benefits there, and compare them with Germany’s, too, and said Britain was a winner because bringing in older relatives was easier.

Let’s not be naive. Europe is more a rich welfare honey pot than a home to many immigrants. One sign of that is that most illegal immigrants entering Europe – 330,000 last year – are young men, and many move north to richer countries like Germany.

Yes, Australia is better at integration, but the sheer size of our legal immigration intake is a challenge, when housing is scarce, our cities are bursting, real wage growth is stagnant and our cultural elites preach a toxic hatred of Australia.

Last month, 59 per cent of people in an Essential poll said they wanted immigration capped, at least “until we have sufficient affordable housing”.

Mark Rutte finally had to listen to the polls. When will our own politicians do the same?