Coalition’s Paul Scarr stands firm on migrant intake

Newly appointed opposition immigration spokesman Paul Scarr has backed the Coalition’s election policy to cut the migration intake as ‘considered and measured’.

Opposition immigration spokesman Paul Scarr. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

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Newly appointed opposition immigration spokesman Paul Scarr has backed the Coalition’s election policy to cut the migration intake as “considered and measured”, but stopped short of recommitting to Peter Dutton’s pledge to slash net overseas ­migration by 100,000.

Since Sussan Ley elevated the Liberal senator into the critical portfolio in a frontbench reshuffle, Senator Scarr has vowed to engage “deeply and respectfully” with the nation’s multicultural communities, whose support will be key to the Coalition’s path back to government.

In an interview with The Australian, Senator Scarr stressed there was no link between policies slashing the migration intake and the collapse of support among voters from diverse backgrounds, which many believed contributed to the Coalition’s May 3 election defeat.

The Queensland senator, who is also opposition spokesman for multiculturalism, said the Liberal Party’s “fundamental values” resonated with migrant communities, and it was his duty to lead a “respectful” and “empathetic” discussion on immigration policy.

“The starting point really needs to be looking at the policy we took to the last election,” Senator Scarr said. “In my view, the policy was very considered, it was very measured. It responded to the legitimate concerns that were raised about the one million figure of overseas migration in that first two-year period of the Labor government.

“The policy which we took to the last election reflected the magnitude of that influx of people into the country,” he said.

Amid concern about the impact of a post-pandemic migration boom on the housing sector, Mr Dutton went to the election pledging to drastically reduce net overseas migration and slash the permanent program from 185,000 to 140,000.

Senator Scarr signalled his support for the promise to cut permanent migration by 25 per cent, but did not commit to pursuing Mr Dutton’s plan to reduce net overseas migration by 100,000 compared to Labor’s projections. “We need to consider all aspects of the policy, and it’d be peremptory to enter into that sort of discussion at this point in time,” he said.

Senator Scarr said Mr Dutton had been “demonised very ruthlessly” by his opponents as anti-migrant when the former opposition leader deeply admired immigrant communities for their work ethic and entrepreneurial drive.

“It was brutal, it was ruthless, and it was unfair – it was also effective,” he said.

In response to criticism that the Coalition’s rhetoric about the need to drive down migration had diminished its support, Senator Scarr said the challenges stemming from unchecked population growth affected Australians from all backgrounds.

“I don’t think there’s necessarily a dichotomy between the impact of these policies on one cohort of Australians as opposed to another cohort,” he said.

“We’re all impacted by these issues. We all have an investment in the common endeavour we call Australia. And that needs to be recognised.”

Senator Scarr said fostering strong relationships with multicultural communities would be a “key component” of the Coalition’s future electoral success.

“The Coalition, the Liberal Party, one of our goals, must be to engage deeply and respectfully with all of our multicultural communities,” Senator Scarr said.

“I have a firm view that many of the fundamental values of the Liberal Party resonate in many of our multicultural communities.

“But in order to achieve that outcome of connection with our multicultural communities, there needs to be a real focus, and I consider it a fundamental responsibility in terms of these portfolios, of engaging with those communities, spending time with the communities, and hearing their concerns.”