O’Neil’s new Strategy cloaks immigration-wolf Albanese in sheep’s clothing

Instead of being hidden in a Budget appendix, Treasury's addictive population-plan should be written up clearly, in every Budget Speech and Overview. Stop the misinformation.

Restrict visa and student-visa numbers.

This Strategy dodges responsibility for the astounding visa (2.2m) and student/graduate visa (0.85m) numbers. To reduce the latter, it recommends that students (and providers) confirm their "genuineness". Yeah right.

Embedded media loves this nonsense. But COVID proved the effectiveness of this continent's border controls. We can turn the numbers around quickly. Let's start, by halving the visas.

Taper net migration towards 0.3% of population.

Gosh, chorus "experts", if only we had a population plan (we do) or long-term migration target (we do). Let's introduce another population agency (meh) or a referendum (meh).

The long-term average of net migration is about 0.3% of population, roughly 80,000. Unless and until some "unicorn" leader heads back in that direction, Australia's unsustainable population will never stabilise.

Wouldn't it be great, if ruling classes relaxed their immigration war on voters? Gave "migration nation" a much-needed rest. More likely, "United Nations" Albanese has cemented that 235,000, as our "floor" for migration.

Manage net/permanent migration honestly.

Ignoring government's net-migration plan, the Strategy also says little of their permanent migration "plan". 190,000 places for 2023-24. Allegedly, 137,000 "skilled".

While ABS net-migration reports are dishonest in their covering remarks, Home Affairs permanent-migration reports verge on farcical.

Against a 195,000 "plan" for 2022-23, they achieved 195,004 "outcomes". World-class bean-counting, eh?

Well disguised, is that most of their "outcomes" were already camped in Australia. They don't explain, roughly half the "skill" stream would be family, not principals. Stop the misinformation.

Clean up "skilled" migration follies.

The migrant wage-threshold of $70,000 is a joke. It should at least be, average fulltime earnings ($95,844, as indexed). It should be higher. The top 10% of employees are on $141,440.

As the Strategy itself proclaims, "insect farming specialists" weren't on immigration's "combined skilled occupation list". Hullo, of course they're not. JSA squadrons (economists) tracking occupational shifts will always be behind.

Solution – just require every "skilled" migrant to have an employer nomination on a high wage. Halve their numbers – put local workers first.