Big business using Queensland floods to profiteer, says Stable Population Party.

A corporate profiteering campaign has spread misinformation about a spurious need for increased skilled migration. Almost daily one hears big business representatives demand that Julia Gillard abandon her promise to dump Kevin Rudd’s “big Australia”. Instead they claim she must remove “red tape” and “increase the skilled migrant intake” to help clean up the disaster.

Community spirit undermined by corporate profit-seeking

Australia's community spirit has been on show during the floods crisis, yet some have used the floods to advance their own interests. And it's not just the odd looter.

A corporate profiteering campaign has spread misinformation about a spurious need for increased skilled migration. Almost daily one hears big business representatives demand that Julia Gillard abandon her promise to dump Kevin Rudd’s “big Australia”. Instead they claim she must remove “red tape” and “increase the skilled migrant intake” to help clean up the disaster.

Well-funded corporate campaign for more immigrants

Big bank 'chief economists' and business 'economic consultancies' form part of this well-funded campaign. The Australia Institute notes that bank profits are now running at $1,000 for every man, woman and child in Australia. The lazy way for big business to make more profit is therefore to increase its customer base, and to drive down wages by importing more pre-trained workers. It helps alleviate training and apprenticeship costs. But would a further rush of skilled migrants help us to clean up and re-house people after the floods – or just add to the problem?

Corporate campaign perpetuates problems it pretends to solve

“Australia’s migration program actually exacerbates skills shortages. A dog can never catch its tail,” says Stable Population Party convenor William Bourke. “The real objective is to feed big businesses’ insatiable desire for more consumers and cheaper labour, not to help flood victims. Of course if an immigration category is created for flood recovery skills, the next thing is that some employers will be demanding migrant doctors and hairdressers to service them. It’s a vicious circle. If genuinely required, the cost to our society of training an extra Australian is far less than that of accommodating a skilled migrant with dependents.”

He adds “Our already record high immigration has been a major cause not just of infrastructure shortages but also skills shortages and government budget deficits, and hence has eroded liveability in our major cities.[1]

Demographia’s latest report already classifies Brisbane’s housing (pre-floods) as “severely unaffordable”.[2]

The Department of Immigration's own research finds that if continued it will impose even greater adverse impacts on the quality of our natural and built environments.”[3]

NOTES

[1] http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10137&page=0; http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/39930.html

[2] http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-second-last-straw-in-affordable-housing-market-rankings-worldwide-20110123-1a18f.html

[3] Jonathan Sobels et al., “Research into the Long-Term Physical Implications of Net Overseas Migration” National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University report for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, January 2011 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/_pdf/physical-implications-migration-fullreport.pdf

John Roles, an experienced manager in Queensland’s energy construction industry said that importing skilled migrants to help the flood crisis “is simply wrong headed. It takes more than 20 years for the average new migrant to register a surplus in the construction of both public and private infrastructure. Increases in immigration therefore exacerbate the shortage of construction skills in the short and mid term. Yet reducing the immigration level by 50,000 people for a single year would immediately free up funds and workforce for rebuilding.”

Dr Jane O’Sullivan of University of Queensland agrees and notes “A typical dwelling takes 2-4 person-years of labour to build (including off-site manufacturing and materials supply).

Additional infrastructure per person is at least as great. Since in fact only a small fraction of the skilled migration intake are construction workers (60% of this intake are not even workers, but family members of skilled migrants), the labour and housing deficit created by their immigration would last many years.”

She adds that “In flood affected areas, rents are already climbing cruelly, due to demand from displaced families and from tradespeople who have moved in from other regions for the recovery period. The knock-on effect will see rents pushed up throughout Brisbane, putting disadvantaged families under even greater strain. The last thing wanted is an influx of more families into this region.”

As well, says Bourke, “With our $770b infrastructure deficit (according to Infrastructure Partnerships Australia), it is highly inappropriate to burden our already overloaded infrastructure with more people. At a time of inflationary pressures through increased food prices, we should try to minimise further upward pressure on land, rent, water and energy prices that population growth inevitably creates. Recent experience should teach us the folly of letting population pressures lead us to build on flood-prone areas; and also that more people means a far higher cost per natural disaster,” he concluded.

Contact: William Bourke Email: [email protected] Web: www.populationparty.com, ref: Media release: 12pm Tuesday, 1 February 2011