Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) today called on the Federal Government to undertake a complete review of immigration into Australia in light of claims of widespread rorting of the system.
This week, Dr Bob Birrell and Dr Ernest Healy from the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University issued a report called Immigration and Unemployment. In it, they claimed that the Department Of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) had not only issued record number of student visas to people who may not be considered genuine students, but had granted permanent residency to large numbers of skilled migrant applicants who did not have the appropriate skills being claimed.
According to the report, large numbers of cooks and accountants are being issued visas despite there being plenty of local candidates. It called for a halting the recruitment of migrant workers whose occupations are in surplus in Australia or for which there are available resident candidates.
National President of SPA, Ms Jenny Goldie, says both Labor and Liberal Governments have been so focussed on stopping “boat people” they have allowed rorting to continue in the much larger skilled program.
“Related to this is the 12-year high unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent in July,” says Ms Goldie. “Birrell and Healy have revealed that since 2011, migrant workers have taken 380,000 of the 400,000 net jobs growth. Young Australians, in particular, are missing out on jobs with unemployment for 15-24-year-olds hitting 14.1 per cent
The report revealed that visas were issued to 7000 foreign accountants in 2012-13 despite 7200 domestic students completing bachelor or higher degrees in accounting in 2012. The Department of Employment declared there was “a more than adequate supply of accountants”.
“You would think that the respective Ministers for Employment and Immigration would confer occasionally on what was in the best interests of the country, but apparently not,” says Ms Goldie.
Comments
Against Slavery (not verified)
Mon, 2014-08-11 17:26
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Great article: "The Lies driving big Australia" in new emag
Anonymous (not verified)
Tue, 2014-08-12 08:13
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Rob Burgess: We need more migrants in a crisis, not less
In a complete counter-logical defence of high immigration at a time of heavy unemployment, there's an article that in a crisis we need MORE migrants! It's a "just add people" logic, totally contrary to empirical evidence and any precedent.
He says that the matching up of the jobless numbers with the immigration numbers paints a false picture. It paints migrants as a "burden" to the economy, and is a product of populist unrest! The biggest "burden" to the economy is not migrants, but the "ageing population" - and young migrants are meant to be the solution!
Angela Chan, national president of the Migration Institute of Australia, says that’s just not true. Employers in regional and remote Australia find it extremely difficult to fill positions with workers who have families, homes and lives in our capital cities -- cities that house the unusually high figure of 85 per cent of our population. However, most skilled migrants don't go to regional or remote areas, but settle in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne!
We need more migrants in a crisis, not less (8 Aug) by Rob Burgess in Business Spectator
Would the Migration Institute ever promote leveling off immigration? It's like expecting an egg farmer to recommend eating less eggs.
Heavy immigration is a vain attempt to increase the GDP! It's like force-feeding a sick child, to gain strength when what's needed is optimising of corporate functions and stability. Australia's wealth is being diluted by more and more people to share it with. Per capita gdp has flat-lined in the last decade and many people are facing harsh times. We have increasing costs of housing, food, utilities and more poverty and homelessness. The economy can't be evaluated purely by "jobs" and GDP at the cost of human welfare, crime, intergenerational inequity and the environment.
Japan has an ageing population, yet their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Japan expanded 1.60 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 over the previous quarter. Their lifestyles will improve with time, and their economy is based on productivity, manufacturing exports, high skills and knowledge. These economist see the meta level of figures, and economic data, rather than human welfare, gross employment rates, opportunities for young people, and living standards. The more of us there are, the more our common wealth must be shared.
Sheila Newman
Tue, 2014-08-12 14:08
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Pro population propaganda dominates mass media topics
Even more frightening than the content of such propaganda (Rob Burgess: we need more migrants etc ) is that the mainstream newsmedia actively seek it out and publish it. There is no balance whatsoever. It is just constant repetition of the mantra: growth, growth, growth at any cost to the rest of us. The press publish almost nothing else except subsidiary pillars of propaganda, such as long musings on radio about how new immigrants have a harder time getting employment than ... some other cohort in Australia. No sympathy for the growing unemployment of people born here. Never linked to the growing black economy and misery that more and more Australians are forced to submit to in order to pay the rent to the people who have somehow become our masters. The mainstream press is a kind of Marie-Antoinette press and its owners deserve the same fate as that insensitive and manipulative lady for utterly betraying the people they pretend to inform and entertain. Well, okay, I'm not in favour of the death penalty, but the people in charge of the mainstream newsmedia should be sent to prison along with the people in politics who gave them such immense and unjust power. We have no laws, however, to get that justice.
david higham (not verified)
Mon, 2014-08-18 11:20
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Continuing population growth will make Australia a food importer
Anonymous (not verified)
Tue, 2014-08-19 06:58
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Julian Cribb: grim future for food security
DennisK (not verified)
Sun, 2014-08-24 20:12
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We can all import food
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