Sunday, July 25, 2010
More babies, less migrants
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott would like to see improvement on birth rate in Australia together with the drop in annual immigration intake to 170,000 places, compared to a peak of 300,000 two years ago. The Coalition wanted to make immigration more sustainable. On the other hand, the birth rate in the country is still significantly below replacement level. However, most of the labor forces oppose this policy. They claimed that immigration intake was already on the way down and would soon be less than the Coalition's target of 170,000. The latest data showed Australia's net overseas migration was on track to drop to between 230,000 and 250,000 people by the end of the 2009-10 financial years. Student visa numbers had dropped from 320,000 in 2008-09 to about 270,000 in 2009-2010. The Government had cut the immigration intake last year because of the economic slowdown, and also tightened eligibility for some visas. Treasury forecasts predict Australia will have 36 million people by 2050 if current migration patterns continue. As a result, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has rejected the forecast as a Government target, opting instead for what she calls a sustainable population.
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From what I understand about the passage, I think it is good for a country to improve it's birth rate, and at the same time, to reduce it's dependence on migrants. The labour forces however rejected this policy mainly because this situation may not be beneficial to them. They were afraid that the government will cut down employment on foreigners in order to reduce the immigration figure. However, Mr Abbott promised that there will be no cut in employer-nominated migrant places. So, I think this policy is workable.
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