Immigration data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday appears to vindicate the way this country has managed its migrant intake since the turn of the century. It also serves as a reality check for the populists and one-issue candidates who try to achieve electoral success on the back of absurd claims migrants are, on the one hand, stealing jobs off true-blue Australians, while living high on the hog thanks to our allegedly generous welfare system, on the other. Unfortunately the people who would benefit most from a healthy dose of facts are the least likely to make the effort to get across the latest data which was released just days after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull likened running a successful migration intake to a corporate "recruiting exercise". "We are able to be very picky about who comes to Australia as permanent migrants. And that's our right, its our country," he said on Monday. Australia accepted about 162,000 permanent migrants in 2017-18, down from 183,000 in 2016-17 and well under the 190,000-a-year-ceiling. Mr Turnbull was responding to calls for an immigration review and a call by former PM, Tony Abbott, to slash the intake to 110,000 to take pressure off wages, housing and infrastructure. The ABS figures also raised questions about the Coalition's obsession with English language tests given more and more of our skilled migrants are professionals and semi-professionals who come from Asian countries, such as India, where English is often widely spoken as a second language. The immigration snapshot also provided evidence migration has been a shot in the arm for the economy. As a group, new arrivals have recorded strong rates of employment and levels of home ownership when compared with the broader community. A willingness, and ability, to enter the property market within a short time of their arrival indicates the determination of most migrants, particularly those in the skilled category, to make Australia their long term home and to assimilate. According to the ABS figures, the new arrivals have also grown the economic pie, increasing the number of jobs available in the process. Oft repeated claims skilled migrants have driven existing Australian workers out of their employment and contributed to a decline in wages and working conditions don't seem to hold up. Many of the new arrivals work in growth sectors in the economy in middle management and administrative roles. Skills such as marketing, business development and human resources are among those in strong demand. This suggests more could and should be done to reskill former Australian manufacturing workers, displaced by economic restructuring and the closure of industries, to work in these areas. While the outcomes for people who have arrived here under the refugee program are not as favourable as for skilled migrants, with higher rates of unemployment, welfare dependency, poorer English skills and lower rates of home ownership, this needs to be weighed against the objectives of our humanitarian intake. By all means let's have a national debate about population growth and immigration. But let's base it on facts, not outdated prejudices that don't stand up to scrutiny.
Immigration data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday appears to vindicate the way this country has managed its migrant intake since the turn of the century.
It also serves as a reality check for the populists and one-issue candidates who try to achieve electoral success on the back of absurd claims migrants are, on the one hand, stealing jobs off true-blue Australians, while living high on the hog thanks to our allegedly generous welfare system, on the other.
Unfortunately the people who would benefit most from a healthy dose of facts are the least likely to make the effort to get across the latest data which was released just days after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull likened running a successful migration intake to a corporate "recruiting exercise".
"We are able to be very picky about who comes to Australia as permanent migrants. And that's our right, its our country," he said on Monday.
Australia accepted about 162,000 permanent migrants in 2017-18, down from 183,000 in 2016-17 and well under the 190,000-a-year-ceiling.
Mr Turnbull was responding to calls for an immigration review and a call by former PM, Tony Abbott, to slash the intake to 110,000 to take pressure off wages, housing and infrastructure.
The ABS figures also raised questions about the Coalition's obsession with English language tests given more and more of our skilled migrants are professionals and semi-professionals who come from Asian countries, such as India, where English is often widely spoken as a second language.
The immigration snapshot also provided evidence migration has been a shot in the arm for the economy. As a group, new arrivals have recorded strong rates of employment and levels of home ownership when compared with the broader community.
A willingness, and ability, to enter the property market within a short time of their arrival indicates the determination of most migrants, particularly those in the skilled category, to make Australia their long term home and to assimilate.
According to the ABS figures, the new arrivals have also grown the economic pie, increasing the number of jobs available in the process. Oft repeated claims skilled migrants have driven existing Australian workers out of their employment and contributed to a decline in wages and working conditions don't seem to hold up.
Many of the new arrivals work in growth sectors in the economy in middle management and administrative roles. Skills such as marketing, business development and human resources are among those in strong demand.
This suggests more could and should be done to reskill former Australian manufacturing workers, displaced by economic restructuring and the closure of industries, to work in these areas.
While the outcomes for people who have arrived here under the refugee program are not as favourable as for skilled migrants, with higher rates of unemployment, welfare dependency, poorer English skills and lower rates of home ownership, this needs to be weighed against the objectives of our humanitarian intake.
By all means let's have a national debate about population growth and immigration. But let's base it on facts, not outdated prejudices that don't stand up to scrutiny.
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