Albanese's open door

A survey conducted last year by the Australian Population Research Institute found a distinct hardening of attitudes toward immigration during the pandemic, with the vast majority of those polled opposing a return to Big Australia immigration levels. According to the Australian Population Research Institute's Katharine Betts and Bob Birrell, these findings show that majority opposition to high immigration is consistent with voters' awareness of its negative consequences.

Another survey released last week, found that a clear majority wants Labor's Jobs and Skills Summit to focus on lifting wages rather than bringing in more overseas workers. When asked to select the two best options to address worker shortages, 50 percent said the solution was to increase wages and conditions or offer incentives for new employees, while 50 percent also stated increased investment in training.

We have been told for decades that Australia is suffering from chronic skills shortages – and that more immigration is the solution. Despite running the largest (in per capita terms) immigration program of any developed country and importing millions of extra workers since the start of the century, Australia is still said to suffer from chronic skills shortages. And now the usual suspects are saying we need even higher immigration to fix the problem. Clearly, something doesn't stack up here. Cue the famous quote attributed to Einstein about the definition of insanity.

A smart government would shift the focus of our immigration program away from quantity, ie importing lots of people, towards quality ie a smaller, better targeted, higher skilled intake. A more moderate, manageable intake would generally make life easier for Australia's existing citizens and residents. If Albanese does indeed turbocharge immigration at the behest of special interests, it will be a stark reminder that the modern ALP is completely divorced from Australian labour.