Premier Bob Carr has been roundly criticised for saying that Sydney’s growth should be curtailed by somehow reducing the number of migrants who settle there. His comments have been seen as migrant-bashing and have raised the ire of the ethnic community organisations. He pointed out that Sydney takes 40 per cent of Australia’s migrants although the city has only 22 per cent of Australia’s population. Others have pointed out that there is a lot of on-migration to other states and that as a result NSW has a lower population growth than most other states. Mr Carr’s statements raise several unrelated issues. Perhaps the most minor is a worrying trend by Mr Carr to appeal to the prejudices of the unthinking. His participation in the ugly auction with former Premier John Fahey over crime before the election was the first example. This pandering to anti-migrant sentiment is the second _ though this time it was less brazen. He wants fewer migrants in Sydney.
This is to be done by giving preference to migrants would want to settle outside Sydney and encouraging migrants to settle elsewhere _ presumably there is no plan to target migrants already in Sydney to move. The trouble with these ideas is: how does one keep migrants out of Sydney once they are in Australia _ perhaps having told immigration officials they intend settling in Bourke? Is there to be some obnoxious directive about where people might live. Clearly not. Australia must continue with freedom of movement. And once a migrant is a resident of Australia he or she must be treated the same as everyone else. If Mr Carr is worried about the growth of Sydney it must be dealt with in a more general context.
Continue reading “1995_05_may_leader24may”