Figures issued this week show that Australia’s immigration pattern is changing, but probably still has some way to go before it is best suited to Australian conditions. In the 1996-97 financial year, there were 73,900 migrants, of which 37 per cent were skilled migrants. The previous year, there were 8600 more migrants, at 82,500, only 29 per cent of whom were in the skilled category. These trends are in the right direction.
The Minister for Immigration, Phillip Ruddock, got it right when he said, “”We have achieved the more skilled intake essential to ensuring immigration has a positive impact on the economy, on government finances and on employment. A smaller and more tightly focused migration program is clearly in the national interest. It is critical to restoring community confidence in immigration.”
The latter point is very important. The Hanson fire might have been starved of some of its fuel if immigration had not been so high and so weighted towards family reunion in the Labor years.
It is important, however, that changes to a smaller and more skills-based program take place gradually and in a context of a racially neutral immigration program. This appears to be happening. It is also important that the immigration program is not seen as a major contributor to congestion problems in major cities. At present very few migrants go directly to places outside the major capitals. The Government has pushed migration to regional centres, but even Mr Ruddock admits it has not be a success. More effort is needed to reduce immigration to major centres if that is going to add to housing, transport, water-quality and other problems of large cities.