Peta Credlin: Anthony Albanese and his inept ministers have no credibility on migration

The Albanese government has proven it has no idea on how to rein-in out-of-control migration and it is time to sack the ministers responsible for the mess, writes Peta Credlin.

Labor governments are always weak on borders. The worst failure of the previous one was the boat people disaster that meant 50,000 illegal arrivals, most of whom are still in limbo here, with more than a thousand deaths at sea.

Unlike its predecessor, the Albanese Government hasn’t (yet) changed all the border protection policies that worked, so illegal migration is not out of control.

What it has failed to control is legal migration, which is now at absolutely unprecedented levels. Figures released this week show that net overseas migration for the September quarter was over 145,000.

Despite the Government’s promise last year to get migration down, it’s now running at an annualised rate of nearly 550,000 and looks set to top even last year’s total, of more than half a million newcomers, which was the previous all-time record.

That’s a city the size of Canberra coming into the country. This record migration is happening at a time when real wages are falling, housing costs are skyrocketing, rental availability is close to zero, roads and public transport are clogged and heaven help anyone who needs to see a doctor fast. Thanks almost entirely to migration, Australia’s population is now growing at 2.5 per cent a year, the fastest of any developed country, and has just reached 27 million.

Hence the housing crisis, because the government’s promise to have 1.2 million new homes built in the next five years is about as plausible as its promise to cut power bills by $275 dollars per household per year.

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese with his Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

At present, we’re lucky to get 100,000 new homes annually. Of course, Australia is an immigrant nation and just about all the newcomers will one day be fine Australians. Apart from anything else, unlike the politicians and academics who hate Australia Day, most migrants know that this is the best country in the world.

But that hasn’t stopped immigration becoming a racket. It’s a dodge for universities and colleges, that use overseas students as a cash cow, even though many of these so-called students are just coming for work and are seeking an immigration outcome in the guise of an education one. It’s the soft option for businesses too, that would rather import cheap labour than pay Australians a decent wage to do unfashionable jobs, or that don’t want to train up our kids.

But most of all, sky-high immigration is a cop-out for lazy governments to keep notional economic growth up, without any serious productivity reform. It’s a Ponzi scheme to mask a poor underlying economy, by making the top line growth numbers look better than they really are.

For the past four quarters, Australia has been in a recession, in GDP-per-capita terms. It’s only thanks to migration that the total economic cake has been growing, while the individual slice each of us get has been shrinking. Hence the reality that while Australia is not (yet) in recession, Australians most definitely are. Poll after poll says that Australians want a lower rate of immigration. Not zero immigration but numbers we can absorb and properly house and employ, without hurting the quality of life for those already here.

The most recent Resolve poll, late last year, showed 62 per cent thought immigration was too high and a majority thought that the government had run it in an “unplanned and unmanaged way”. After denying for two years that there was a problem (because they were deliberately using migration to avoid a technical recession), the Albanese Government seems to have woken up to the political damage that out-of-control migration is doing to them.

So, while Labor remains a Big Australia government, with an election coming, it’s talking tough without doing anything effective about it. The Government says that it’s lifting the English-language requirements for would-be students and for short-term workers, and that it’s asking more searching questions of would-be foreign students so that it is really about education and not a backdoor way to stay here.

But, with almost 150,000 migrants in the last reported quarter, the Government’s efforts to rein-in out-of-control migration have been about as successful as their efforts to control foreign criminals. There’s been more evidence of ineptitude on that front too, with revelations that some of the released foreign criminals, including a rapist, have had their ankle bracelets removed after legal challenge.

It’s another reason he must sack the ministers in charge – the same hapless pair that have so mishandled the foreign criminals debacle – and put a new team in charge to do what voters expect, and our country needs.

LEFT WING POLLIES DON’T LIKE TO LISTEN TO VOICE OF PEOPLE

Voters might have overwhelmingly rejected Aboriginal separatism by saying “No” to the Voice, but there still seems to be one law for some and a different law for others based on racial ancestry, as revealed by two issues that have come to light in recent days.

After a native title claim some years ago, the Waverton Bowling Club and all the associated land was handed to Sydney’s Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. The bowling club fell derelict and now the Aboriginal land council is reportedly set to receive multimillion-dollar compensation due to the construction of the new Western Harbour Tunnel some 20 metres below the former club.

The council’s lawyers claim that native title extends to the centre of the earth, unlike normal freehold title. Hence, while the club’s neighbours would only receive compensation if the tunnel actually damages their property, the council is entitled to compensation for the tunnelling itself.

Also this week, residents of Toobeah, near Goondiwindi on the Darling Downs, are angry about losing control of all the crown land around their town to a native title claim. Residents say that many of their town’s facilities, such as a camping ground and recreation area, are on crown land and shouldn’t be handed over to the Bigambul Native Title Aboriginal Corporation whose members are based in Brisbane.

The fact there’s been little consultation only adds insult to injury. Everyone wants a fair go for Aboriginal people because the first Australians are more than entitled to succeed in their own country. The problem is when some people seem to have more rights than others based on ancestral connections that are tenuous at best.

The Voice vote should have been a signal to government that Australians should be treated equally and that our country does not belong to some more than others. Yet apart from one or two councils discontinuing the practice, acknowledgments of “country” continue, on flights and at official gatherings, as if Australia belongs to some of us, not all of us.

The people can speak, it seems, but that doesn’t mean politicians and officials are willing to listen.

Originally published as Peta Credlin: Anthony Albanese and his inept ministers have no credibility on migration