Labor MP warns immigration cuts key to winning election

A Victorian MP has lost his Labor seat of Preston after warning the ALP to cut skilled migration in a bid to win back support.

One of the state MPs who lost preselection on Monday as part of a purge of Labor Right MPs has warned the ALP faces a bleak electoral future federally if it doesn’t change course on immigration.

Robin Scott, who resigned as Assistant Treasurer last year in the wake of the fall of right-wing powerbroker Adem Somyurek, wrote to the ALP’s National Executive ahead of its vote, which resulted in him being replaced as candidate in the safe Labor seat of Preston.

In his letter he warned Labor was suffering “a decline in support from low education, low-income voters, and the increase in support from high education, high-income voters” which has helped the Coalition federally.

He blamed the drop in part on the effect high levels of immigration have had on the wages of those at the bottom of society.

“Low-education, low-income voters have not been advantaged by their exposure to greater competition in the labour market, with very high levels of migration, more temporary visa holders competing at the bottom of the labour market, and more international labour competition with freer trade of goods and services.” he said.

“If we are to stop the ebbing away of Labor’s traditional support, we must address the relative economic decline of low-income Australians.”

Robin Scott.

Adem Somyurek. Picture: David Geraghty

Mr Scott said the best way to do that was to increase their relative bargaining power in the labour market — and cutting immigration was one way to do it.

“We have had a natural experiment during Covid, where the immigration tap has been turned off for nearly two years”, which has seen wages “starting to rise, including at the bottom of the labour market,” he said.

“Migration is the only public debate where we pretend the laws of supply and demand don’t apply. They do, and the pretense they don’t, for fear of stoking racism, only accelerates the rise of right-wing populists,” he said.

Mr Scott said while skill shortages were real, training and higher wages were the solution to the problem, with supplementation by skilled migration the third best option, not the first.

“Our immigration program, including temporary visitors with work rights, should be focused on high-skilled migrants. A smaller, more focused program combined fair treatment for refugees,” he said.

He said the first political party to grasp the nettle on immigration would reap a clear electoral advantage.

“Unlike some of the policies we took to the last election, reducing labour competition at the bottom of the labour market through changing our immigration program is popular, very popular,” he said.

“It is also a popular policy with many migrant communities, whose voices are underrepresented in our political class.”

He said that while Australia “must, of course, remain a proud multicultural society, where bigotry has no place … our migration program should reflect the needs of all the community, not just business.”

Mr Scott’s call for federal Labor to seek a cut in immigration comes days after Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese refused to back the Morrison government’s move to increase immigration, details of which are set to be revealed later this week.

PAKULA WON’T SPECULATE ON ‘DIFFICULT’ DAY’

Senior Andrews government Minister Martin Pakula on Monday declared that “untidy” internal party fighting is not confined to the Victorian Labor party.

The Australian Labor Party’s National Executive is getting set to thrash out preselection matters ahead of the next election, with internal factional wars threatening to boot a number of MPs from their seats.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Pakula acknowledged it would be a “very difficult day” for many of his colleagues staring down the prospect of losing a seat.

“Today is going to be a very difficult day for a number of my colleagues and I’m not going to add to their difficulty by publicly speculating about what may happen,” he said.

In total, 10 lower house seats and five positions in the upper house will be decided on during the meeting.

Andrews government Minister Martin Pakula says internal party fighting is not confined to the Labor Party. Picture: Paul Jeffers

Asked whether optics of internal fighting between party factions may have damaged how regular Victorians perceived politics, Mr Pakula said preselections could sometimes get “untidy”.

“I think regular Victorians, regular Australians and regular citizens of the world, sometimes perceive politics in a less than positive light. I don’t think there’s anything new or unusual about that,” he said.

“Party internal processes sometimes get pretty messy. It’s not confined to the Victorian ALP.

“You might have noticed on the weekend there was one sitting Liberal MP disendorsed and another fail in his bid for preselection. I’m not revelling in any of that but I’m just making the point that this is something that happens across both parties and it’s not just here in Victoria.

“It’s a very competitive environment and sometimes pre-selections can get untidy.”

Mr Pakula dismissed claims that Premier Daniel Andrews had abdicated his responsibilities by failing to intervene.

“No. I don’t,” he said.

Originally published as Labor MP warns immigration cuts key to winning election