Coronavirus: Australia opposition calls for reduction in immigration

SYDNEY • Australia's opposition party is calling for a reduction in migrant numbers after the Covid-19 pandemic, saying the country's historic reliance on immigration to boost growth has hurt workers.

"Do we want migrants to return to Australia in the same numbers and in the same composition as before the crisis?" Labor's shadow home affairs minister Kristina Keneally wrote in an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald. "Our answer should be no."

In particular, she called for a reduction in the number of young, lower-skilled temporary workers permitted to enter the country and more investment in skills training for locals, reported Bloomberg.

"We must make sure that Australians get a fair go and a first go at jobs," Ms Keneally told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age.

"Our post-Covid-19 economic recovery must ensure Australia shifts away from its increasing reliance on a cheap supply of overseas, temporary labour that undercuts wages for Australian workers and takes jobs Australians could do."

More than a quarter of Australia's population is foreign-born, the second-largest in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. While high levels of migration have been an essential component of the country's record-breaking run of economic growth, recent years have seen a rising backlash.

The majority of newcomers head for big cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, and there have been increasing complaints that population growth in these areas is reducing the quality of everyday life, straining infrastructure and pushing up house prices.

Ms Keneally, who is a member of Labor's core leadership group, said the country had an opportunity to shift from the "lazy approach" used by previous governments to boost the economy through the immigration programme at the expense of local workers, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

"Governments of all stripes have relied on high levels of migration to boost population in order to fuel economic growth. Arguably, at times, this been a lazy approach," she said. "Letting lots of migrants come to Australia is an easier way to drive economic growth than increasing productivity or investing in skills and training."

The Australian government has fixed the cap for migration at 160,000 for this year and the next three, though the intake in 2019-20 is expected to be low due to potential migrants being in lockdown and unable to take medical tests.

Last year, migration reached 239,600, the fourth-highest level since 1970, including temporary migrants. Two-thirds of the 381,000 increase in Australia's population was attributed to net migration.

In the wake of the pandemic, migration has been forecast to drop by 85 per cent in the next year's forecast intake of almost 270,000 by the federal Treasury, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Calls for a change to the migration programme are bipartisan, with government MP Andrew Laming saying there was scope to increase the skill-based element of the migrant intake, arguing that it was vital to focus on "quality rather than quantity".

The government's Senate Whip Dean Smith has also raised concerns about immigration, saying that Australia deserves a more comprehensive debate in the wake of the pandemic.

"Any plan to reshape Australia once the coronavirus has passed must start with a conversation about the composition, geographic spread and the skill components of our population," he said.