Australians rightly embrace ethnic diversity, yet concern about immigration is justified

In terms of housing, while it has been previously argued that most of the rapid housing price rises in Sydney and Melbourne by 2014 could not be attributed to foreign investment, one real estate player in 2019 noted the absurdity of allowing high foreign ownership of domestic housing (then mainly Chinese and Indians) given his estimate that around 500,000 of Australia's 10 million dwellings were now owned by foreigners.

At the same time, various sources estimate that home-ownership rates have already fallen for most age groups within the Australian population, especially for the 25-to-34-year-olds which fell from 60% to 45% between 1981 and 2016.

In 2020, while one source indicated that Chinese investment in Australia real estate halved from $12.6 billion to $6 billion in the 2018-19 financial year (albeit dwarfed by US and Canadian investment which exploded to a combined $32.8 billion), Chinese interest in Australian property remains despite tougher internal policy settings by the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and Australian governments introducing foreign investment application fees while doubling stamp duty in Victoria and NSW.

Another 2020 article notes that Chinese buyers were returning to the Australian property market, despite the coronavirus crisis, in order to secure their wealth from the CCP. According to George Chmiel from the Chinese property portal Juwai, inquiries from Chinese buyers only dipped 14% in the first quarter compared with 40% for local buyers with demand still strong because of Australia's successful handling of the coronavirus crisis, a lower Australian dollar, and Australia remaining "very attractive for students, investors and retirees" given its lifestyle and resilient property market.

In employment terms, despite Australians of Indian ancestry (both born here and abroad) comprising just 2.8% of the Australian population (675,658) by 2016, albeit with 58% of the Indian-born population holding a bachelor's or higher degree compared to 22% of the wider community, the impact of Indian immigration has been profound in recent years

As Tim Colebatch argued in 2017, at a time when the Turnbull government rightly replaced/modified the 457 visa program, there is indeed a major policy problem when just one in six full-time jobs between 2008 and 2016 in net terms went to people born in Australia (74,000 of 474,000 full-time jobs created) with almost half of the full-time jobs to foreigners (168,000) going to workers born in India and its neighbours.

Again, while Indian immigrants benefited most, the same is not true of the Australian population. Between 2008 and 2016, the number of unemployed Australian-born increased from 338,000 to 507,000 (54%) with the number of them in full-time jobs growing by just 1%.

In terms of school leavers, those finding a full-time job between 2008 and 2016 shrank by a massive 214,000 (21%). While some of this figure was due to many staying in full-time education longer, the number of education leavers in part-time work jumped by 29% while their unemployed number grew by 36%.

In the decade to June 2015 it is easy to see just who benefited. With 371,000 "temporary workers (and families) arriving in Australia on temporary 457 visas to fill jobs for employers that could not be filled by Australians, around 60% of them (226,000) got to stay in Australia by "mostly swapping their temporary visa for permanent residency".

Given my added concern that Australia's dynamic culture will best evolve from the interaction between its domestic population and migrants that is not undermined by large ethnic minorities arriving too quickly, I argue that migration numbers from China and India should be limited with Australia ensuring a diverse migration intake from a greater number of foreign national sources.

However, in line with the aim of not formally institutionalising cultural differences yet treating all citizens equally, Australia must continue to make sure that no migrant group experiences racism.

For example, given current Cold War tensions, with Australia rightly siding with the US against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) within the battle for influence between liberalism and authoritarianism, Australia must take every measure to respect and protect its Chinese Australian population which the 2016 census estimates comprises around 5% of Australia's population (1.2 million).