Tony Abbott calls for immigration cut back as permanent program unveiled
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has called for the immigration program to be pared back and focused on recruiting skilled workers.
Former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott has called for the immigration program to be pared back and focused on recruiting skilled workers, as Labor announced this year’s permanent migration program would be capped at 185,000.
Mr Abbott said the migration program needed to be “much smaller” than its current level, revealing he had called for immigration to be scaled back to the level it was under the Howard government, about 100,000, when he was in parliament.
“We really need to get our act together in terms of having a genuine skills-based migration program that’s much smaller than the current one and insisting to new migrants that they’re not just living in Hotel Australia,” Mr Abbott told the IPA’s podcast.
“They’re actually now part of ‘team Australia’ and need to subscribe to the sort of values that until recently we took great pride in.”
His remarks came as Home Affairs and Immigration Minster Tony Burke announced on Tuesday that the permanent migration program, including skilled and family visas, would be set at 185,000 in 2025-26, the same level as last financial year.
“It follows consultation with the states and territories, which recommended maintaining the size and composition of the program, with a focus on skilled migration,” Mr Burke said.
“The Department of Home Affairs has been processing visas based on last year’s level, so there has been no disruption to delivery of the program.”
The delay in unveiling this year’s levels had been widely criticised by the migration sector, with the figure typically being announced in May alongside the federal budget.
Opposition immigration spokesman Paul Scarr criticised Labor’s handling of the migration system since it came to power, pointing to the government’s decision to allow a million migrants into the country during its first two years. “There is no explanation regarding how this announcement of the permanent migration intake reflects the very real pressures facing modern Australia,” Senator Scarr said.
“It is made on 2 September, more than two months after the financial year began. That delay is unacceptable and shows a government with no plan for one of the most important portfolios shaping our future”
Immigration has become a heated national issue under Labor after a post-pandemic surge in temporary arrivals, mostly international students, ignited national debate about the strain migration placed on the housing market and infrastructure.
On Sunday, thousands of protesters joined March for Australia rallies against immigration across the country.
Mr Abbott said immigration in recent years had been largely driven by “educational institutions, which are effectively selling residency as opposed to schooling or studying”.
“This idea that Australia has a skills-based immigration program is misleading to put it at its best,” he said. “Effectively, we’re importing people to do entry level jobs that Australians won’t do.
“That’s not the immigrant’s fault. It’s our fault for not running a better system.
“And as well as that, again, I think 99.9 per cent of our migrants come here wanting to join us, not to change us, but all too often they come here and instead of being told that they’re now part of the best country on earth, they’re told that they’re part of a country which should be ashamed of itself because of its past racism and present discrimination, a country that had almost illegitimate origins because of the dispossession of the Aboriginal people and so on.”
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