View from The Hill: Burke struggles to wrangle numbers as opposition and One Nation apply heat on migration
The minister cancelling his press club appearance was embarrassing and revealing.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's cancellation of his scheduled migration speech at the National Press Club reveals the challenges in crafting a comprehensive migration policy. The government commissioned an expert review led by former senior bureaucrat Martin Parkinson, but the blueprint was not effectively implemented by previous ministers Clare O'Neil and Andrew Giles.
The government's medium-term objective is to reduce the Net Overseas Migration (NOM) number to an annual 225,000, below the current level of around 300,000. Despite the complexity of the program, cuts to migration numbers can have negative consequences, such as a shortage of skilled migrants in the construction sector and aged care industry.
Furthermore, the government faces criticism over the treatment of temporary migrants under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) program, with an ABC Four Corners program highlighting abuses. To reduce the migration number, one potential solution is delaying family reunions, but this could lead to long waits and distressing situations.
Immigration expert Abul Rizvi poses three key questions for Burke: the appropriateness of the 225,000 NOM target, the sufficiency of proposed changes to achieve the target, and the consequences of the proposed changes on various industries and communities. The government's late implementation of changes to migration policies leaves little room for improvement.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
