It was very foolish of the non-governing parties in the Senate to over-turn the Government’s immigration regulations. It was foolish in terms of the national good and in terms of their own credibility.
The aim of the regulations was to enable the Minister for Immigration to swing the composition of the migrant intake away from family reunion and towards skills. It would have meant a greater emphasis on English-language skills which have been the key determinant of the success of migrants in getting jobs in Australia.
The Labor Party substantially increased immigration during the term of the Hawke Government. There was no economic or social imperative to do so. The earlier numbers of the Fraser Government of around 70,000 a year were quite adequate to meet economic needs and the social needs of family reunion and moral duty to refugees. The increase by the Hawke Government, which had an unhealthy element of vote buying in it, has put a strain on public support for the migration program. Opinion polls are consistently showing majority support for reduced immigration. A wise Government would do something about this, and a wise Opposition would let it do something about it. If the immigration is seen to be too high or not to have a sufficient skills basis, support for it will erode. But worse than this, we are seeing that being exploited by those who oppose racial tolerance and multi-culturalism. This will be a great tragedy for Australia.
It is essential now, at a time of high unemployment and questions of the carrying capacity of the continent, for the immigration program to be reduced to the levels suggested by the Government of about 74,000 a year (from highs in the Hawke period of 140,000) and for its focus to be changed.
If the Labor Party were sincere about maintaining public support for immigration and multi-culturalism it would let the Government’s regulations through. By blocking them, it will only add fuel to opponents of immigration and multi-culturalism. Moreover, by defeating the regulations it has left only blunt regulatory instruments … such as arbitrary cut-offs … for the Government to use to meet its numbers target. The Minister, Philip Ruddock, has said he will use them. Thus the blocking of the more sensitive regulatory regime will inflict a more arbitrary regime on migrants and their Australian sponsors.
The Greens and the Democrats stand discredited on the issue. Both, but especially the Greens, have been persistent exponents of the view that the continent’s population growth is unsustainable; that it is carrying too many people to maintain at present increases in standards of living. The sincerity of the exposition of those views must now be questioned by their joining with Labor to score a defeat of the government on the floor of the Senate.
And in this exercise, the three groups have delivered yet another excuse to the Government (along with watering down the industrial relations law) if it does not achieve its economic aims on foreign debt, the budget deficit and employment.