The Australian government has missed the boat on refugees

Australia is a great example of a country that has accepted large numbers of migrants and found the opposite to be true. Social cohesion was improved; diversity led to a stronger society not a weaker one. Crime has not increased and immigration did not create large numbers of unemployed. If anything, the need to house new arrivals has created a far greater number of jobs than new arrivals have taken.

This phenomenon has been repeated in the United States, Hong Kong, Israel and elsewhere. Migrants have provided new ideas, vigour, diversity and networks. In Los Angeles, Korean migrants have invigorated the central business district. In Australia, migrants undertook much of the dangerous work on the Snowy Mountain scheme, and were part of our greatest period of economic growth. According to Alejandro Portes of Princeton University: "Overall, the weight of evidence is that it has been a major boon to the economy to have such a supply of labour at many levels."

In Australia, some have argued for only skilled migrants because they cost a society less money. This is undoubtedly true in the short run, but also misleading in the long run.

David Sarnoff, the inventor of modern television, came to America with his uneducated refugee parents. Every year when the HSC results are announced the children of migrant parents, who were mostly refugees, inevitably dominate. Being selective is very short-sighted.

Finally, there is the moral argument. How many of us would voluntarily choose to pay thousands of dollars to sit on the bottom of a leaky boat for months on end to be dropped off in another country where we know no-one and do not speak the language? It is not something that we, as a nation, should shun, but rather welcome as an affirmation of our nation in the eyes of the truly needy. The fact that many of these refugees are victims of pirates and crooks is merely a reflection of their desire to be here.

By removing the restrictions on those wishing to move to Australia we would improve our prospects in growing our market. We'd improve our networks and innovation. And we'd make ourselves once more relevant to the world. History has shown that those countries that warmly embrace new migrants enjoy these outcomes. Australia's stance should be clear - let them come, and hope they stay.