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Migration - Escrito por Administrator -    Segunda, 23 Agosto 2010 09:12

Responding to Treasury advice to Population Minister Tony Burke in April that the economy faced "acute" capacity constraints in Queensland and Western Australia in the next two years, Professor Peter McDonald, a leading demographer, alerts that there would be serious consequences from any move by governments to limit migration.

"The . . . danger (of restricting migration) is inflation driven by wage pressure. Labour, particularly construction jobs, will get sucked into the resources sector in Queensland and WA because they pay higher wages," he said.

Population expert Glenn Withers said as well as the economy-wide inflationary danger, there was a risk resource projects could be affected without the necessary skilled workforce to get them up and running.

But Monash University demographer Bob Birrell said it was disingenuous to conflate the mining boom with immigration. "Immigration has nothing to do with the mining boom."

"Almost all migrants have arrived and stayed in the cities and their employment has been around the service sector." He argued the government should develop a specific mining immigration policy.

"The mining industry wants job-ready, just-in-time workers who don't need to be trained. They're asking for enterprise migration, and that makes sense. If you have a short-term boom, it makes sense not to compete for workers with the east coast but to bring them in as short-term temporary workers."

Migration - Escrito por Administrator -    Segunda, 23 Agosto 2010 09:06

The warning was made by former Victorian premier Steve Bracks

In an impassioned speech in Melbourne last night, Mr Bracks urged Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to "set the national tone" and recommit to multiculturalism.

"We need migrants," he said. "We need them in our workforce to drive our economy into the 21st century. We need them to help us make the transition to a sustainable economy. It's not a question of yes or no on migration."

While Labor has attempted to separate the population issue from immigration policy, despite overseas migration accounting for about two-thirds of population growth, the Coalition has not been as shy. It proposes to cap immigration at 170,000 a year as part of its effort to ensure Australia does not reach Treasury's projected population of 36 million by 2050. Bracks said he recognised the public concern and explained:

"Diversity -- when it's dwelled upon as a point of difference -- can be scary. But that's no excuse for backing away from what is in our best interests as a people," he said.

"If we become insular in our thinking, we will miss out on new opportunities for the kind of investment and next-generation technologies we need to make the leap from a carbon-intensive economy to a climate change economy.” "And if we miss out on those opportunities overseas, the future prosperity and sustainability of our nation will be at risk."

Mr Bracks said the current political leaders should heed the lessons of the recent past.

"Every Australian government since 1973 has stayed true to the principle behind multiculturalism -- that diversity is a strength, not a weakness, that we have far more to gain than fear," he said.

"The success or failure of multiculturalism is not just up to Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott. Leaders can set the national tone. Leaders can set an example.”