‘Australians first’ ban on 457 visa scheme for skilled migrants will only hurt the economy
Manjit Bhatia says Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is making scapegoats of qualified immigrants, when the real problem is the failure of successive governments to frame farsighted policies to prepare Australia for a post-mining future
A week after his visit to India, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull put up the “No Vacancy” sign, saying the 457 temporary visa programme would be scrapped. Introduced in the 1990s, the visa scheme signalled a major shift in Australian immigration policy: it allowed businesses to hire foreign workers for jobs locals could not or would not fill.
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That has left Pauline Hanson ecstatic. Turnbull needs critical legislative and electoral support from Hanson and her One Nation party, which wants non-white immigration and citizenship frozen indefinitely.
It is conservative Australia whose raw nerve over “unstoppable” population growth from immigration, including via the 457 scheme, that Turnbull has touched. Foreigners, they argue, have been abusing the visa scheme to become citizens. And they’re taking Australian jobs. These are dubious claims when unemployment has remained close to 6 per cent for five years at least, while wages have stayed stagnant and inflation was 1.5 per cent at the end of the year.
Such claims are gross exaggerations. For starters, Turnbull had bragged in India about Australia being the world’s “most successful multicultural nation”. This, then, denies Australia is racist and Turnbull is not targeting migrants.
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He praised Indian immigrants in Australia, their “integration” with “Australian society” and their contribution to economic growth. At least there is now tentative recognition that immigration creates aggregate demand and that supply-side economics is just bunkum.