Senator Andrew Bartlett
Thursday, March 03, 2005
 
Some migrants are more equal than others

A report in today's Australian newspaper says the Government is considering increasing our skilled migrant intake by 20 000 people next year, a big increase on this year’s total of around 77 000. Statements by the Prime Minister reported on the ABC seem to confirm this.

There couldn’t be a more blatant example of how this Government has failed to ensure that opportunities are available for people already in Australia to obtain the necessary qualifications.

When I saw this story, I recalled a media release by the former Minister, Mr Ruddock from 1999. At that time that skilled intake was 35 000, yet the Minister said a substantial increase in the Skill stream, “would only be possible by significantly diluting selection criteria … which would irreparably undermine the significant economic, budgetary and employment benefits of skilled migration.”
Given this fact, it seems strange that just 5 years later the Government is suggesting it is viable to aim for a skilled intake of close to 100 000 people.

I think it is unlikely there are that many people highly skilled in just the right fields, sitting around looking for another country to move to, unless they can get much higher pay than is currently available in Australia. Of course, to offer higher pay would fuel the upward pressure on skilled wages which was part of the cause of yesterday’s interest rate hikes.

I’d say this is an unworkable attempt at a quick fix to try to dampen the clamour arising from the interest rate hike. Business will like the sound of it, as anything that increases the pool of skilled labour they can draw from suits them and the housing sector always likes more migrants. But I can’t see it really putting a big dint in the skills shortage and it runs the risk of reducing the pressure on where the real action should be, which is in much greater investment in training opportunities for people already here.

I should emphasise I support (moderately) higher migration, but it infuriates me that this Government specifically puts hurdles in the way of other migrants using or developing their skills, while at the same time going out and trying to scoop up others. There are thousands of refugees on temporary visas prevented from updating their skills, being prevented from accessing English language classes that other refugees are provided with. I know many of these refugees are highly skilled. I can recall one Iranian couple I met in Baxter in 2003 and 2004, one of whom was a Doctor and the other a Pharmacist. They have finally been given a Visa, but would have to pay full fees to access any courses to upgrade or diversify their skills to meet Australian requirements.

We also have many people who have been prevented from settling here because a family member has a disability and is therefore seen as a ‘cost’. There was a family in Canberra who got some publicity in Canberra near the end of last year when they were refused a visa because they had an autistic son.

It’s time we acknowledged our migration system is already grossly discriminatory. We should remove some of those unfair aspects that stop people already trying to settle here before we go out seeking more and we should not see instant migration as a cheap way of avoiding properly investing in education and training here.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Thursday, March 03, 2005 Permalink
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