I honestly thought the Coalition’s immigration policies couldn’t get any dumber. I was wrong. Its policies are definitely dumb, but Labor’s are dumber.
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Let me quickly point out the key weaknesses of the Coalition’s suite of policies that is leading to record levels of net overseas migration, with immigration responsible for two-thirds of our rapid population growth.
Notwithstanding placing a cap on permanent migrants of 160,000 a year — it’s been at that level for the past two years — the Coalition has declared open slather on all forms of temporary migration, including of international students.
As Bob Birrell has noted: “In 2017-18, overseas students were the largest contributor to Australia’s very high level of net overseas migration. They comprised 104,987 of the overall level of NOM of 236,733 — that’s 44 per cent of total NOM.”
The Coalition has also introduced two regional visas and a capped program on temporary parent visas — for grandparents — that will come into effect on July 1. The Coalition’s immigration policies are essentially uncontrolled and badly structured.
Now we have Labor’s policy announcements. Instead of a capped temporary parent visa program of 15,000 a year and with five-year visas costing $10,000 — the Coalition’s policy — Labor is pledging to introduce a completely uncapped program where families are not limited to bringing in two parents. With scope to renew these five-year visas, the cost will be a mere $2500 every five years.
The second announcement relates to temporary skilled workers, the old 457 visas. Trade unions have always objected to these visas because there is a view that employers use them to pay lower wages as well as avoid training obligations. Labor will increase the minimum wage that must be paid to temporary skilled workers from $53,900 a year to $65,000.
Take the first of these initiatives. In what is a blatant vote-cadging exercise in seats with high numbers of migrants, the impact on the migrant intake could be substantial. After all, there is a waiting list of nearly 100,000 for the close-to-free permanent parent visas. With the lure of five years plus extensions without the requirement to apply offshore, we would expect there will be a huge surge in the numbers of these new parent visas.
And let’s be clear: the language skills of these entrants are generally very poor and they won’t be working because many will be too old and the visa carries no work rights.
If the economics of immigration tells us anything, it’s that younger skilled migrants with strong English are the key to economic gains.
Labor’s policy is a sure-fire way to tip the balance towards the costs of immigration outweighing the benefits, particularly as older entrants will place more pressure on certain resources, particularly healthcare, even if they are made to pay for the services themselves.
As for restricting temporary skilled workers, it’s clear that the main concerns about exploitation in the labour market relate to the treatment of international students and working holidaymakers. Labor has no plans to restrict their numbers. Of course, they tend to work in largely non-unionised parts of the workforce.
So dumb or dumber: take your pick. The Coalition gave up a real chance of being an election frontrunner by failing to reduce seriously the number of migrants, both permanent and temporary.
But Labor’s policy propositions are a worse combination, particularly in terms of the unlimited number of parent visas that will be granted in short order.
It’s a grim choice.
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