Hong Kong migrants have skills the nation needs

The numbers of Hongkongers entering Australia on migration pathways have lagged behind those of other countries offering special Hongkonger migration arrangements.

During last week’s Jobs and Skills Summit, there was consensus on the need to deal with skills short­ages by lifting levels of migration. One potential group of migrants Australia should consider taking in significantly more of are those from Hong Kong.

This is not just my emotional bias as an Australian Hongkonger. I believe this to be in Australia’s interests. Let’s start with the fact about 100,000 Australians live in Hong Kong. It is one of the biggest expatriate Australian communities. Australians have familiarity in dealing with Hongkongers at an economic and social level.

As with Australia, Hong Kong’s education, professional qualifications and legal systems have been broadly based on a British model. Its universities in the past were highly regarded internationally. Its population is used to operating in and servicing what was considered a premier international financial centre.

And its graduates are generally fluent in English, as well as written Chinese and spoken Cantonese and Mandarin. This is not just important for Australia’s economic engagement with Asia but it is also of national security significance.

Australia faces numerous challenges from an increasingly assertive and authoritarian China. One of the resources needed to meet these challenges is more people with Chinese language skills and cultural understanding to see through and help combat the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, obfuscation and misinformation. Australia is looking to reduce reliance on CCP-backed Chinese language programs. It will take time for replacement programs to be devised and implemented. But Australia needs Chinese language skills now.

Hongkonger migrants would be a good fit. On top of Chinese language skills and cultural awareness, they have experience of and tend to object to China’s authoritarian overreach. They would thus more likely be in a position to use their skills and experiences to defend and promote our fundamental democratic values.

Australia appears to recognise the value of having more Hongkonger migrants. Hongkongers are given priority in existing migration categories, as well as migration pathways for certain education or temporary work-related visas.

However, the numbers of Hongkongers entering Australia on migration pathways have lagged behind those of other countries offering special Hongkonger migration arrangements, such as Britain and Canada. The situation with Britain is understandable, as it has an almost open-slather arrangement on account of its moral debt to Hongkongers.

But it is another thing for Australia’s potential skilled and education migrant numbers from Hong Kong to lag Canada’s. Publicly available annualised figures indicate that Australia’s intake in 2020-21 was just more than 4000, while Canada’s last year was more than 20,000. In short, Canada’s Hongkonger schemes are broader and less onerous than Australia’s.

Pro-democracy Hongkonger friends of mine who chose to move to Canada under its scheme are generally highly educated and tend to have highly sought-after skills. Almost to a person, they told me they would have preferred Australia if our scheme was even just identical to Canada’s. We are thought of as having better weather and a better lifestyle. Our time zones and location make it easier for them to stay in contact with relatives who remain in Hong Kong, and to travel to Asian holiday destinations.

All this suggests to me that Australia is missing out. When we need migrants who are not only economically and socially compatible with us, well educated and typically also skilled, but also are well-placed to help us stand up to the CCP, we are losing them to defence allies that, quite frankly, are not as close to the geopolitical coalface as we are.

Kevin Yam was a Hong Kong-based lawyer and pro-democracy activist. He now resides in Melbourne.