Australian Migration, Refugees and Boat People

I am in favour of a stable population for Australia, as described in more detail under population.

This is sometimes misinterpreted as an opposition to refugees coming to Australia, and can even be misconstrued as a racist policy.  This is totally incorrect, but I felt it was necessary to explain my attitude to boat people.

This is a name given in Australia to those people who arrive in Australia in small vessels, without previous permission to come here.  Normally after arriving they will apply for refugee status.  Often the boats they come in are quite unsuitable for the dangerous seas they have to cross, and some people have certainly been drowned.  We do not even know how many fail to reach our shores.

Boat people have been coming to Australia since 1976.  The 500^th boat is expected to arrive between August and October 2010.

Many (Certainly not all) of the boat people coming here are refugees from wars that Australia is, or has been, involved in.  At first many were from Vietnam.  More recently many have been from Iraq or Afghanistan.  We certainly have some responsibility to these people.

I think we should treat these people much more humanely than both the major parties in Australia want to.

Australia has historically welcomed a large number of refugees.  Currently they make up a fairly small percentage of immigration to Australia.   The number of boat people coming to Australia is small, even compared with the number of refuges allowed in. 

The boat people do not affect Australia’s population at all.  This is because they are included in the rather meagre number of refugees allowed in.  So, if a thousand boat people are given permission to stay, a thousand other refugees will have to wait.  Our population, and our population growth are not affected by the boat people

My Policy

Personally, I think that the total number of refugees allowed in each year should be increased. (Currently it is 13,750)  And the boat people should be treated in the same way that we ourselves would like to be treated if we are ever in the same position.

Skilled Immigration

This is the biggest part of the total immigration quota.  It is also one that is misused in many ways.  Companies are bringing in skilled workers rather than implementing a reasonable training program for Australians.  They are also claiming they cannot get Australian workers when they are not even interviewing some of the people who apply for their positions.

Some companies have attempted to pay people from overseas less than the going rate for the job.  When this comes to the attention of the authorities, the companies are made to obey the law.

The skilled immigration program is also misused by people overseas using fake qualifications.  This even occurs with people with a fake truck driving licence who cannot even drive at all.

I think that this component of the immigration program should be drastically curtailed.

Net Migration

It should be remembered that there are substantial numbers of people emigrating out of Australia.  By removing the deliberate incentives for people to have children and drastically reducing the numbers of “skilled” immigrants, Australia can maintain its current population, while increasing the numbers of refugees we allow in.

Another side to the refugee problem is not getting involved in wars that displace huge numbers of people, and attempting to persuade our allies to do the same.  In the Iraq war alone about 2.3 million people have been displaced, either internally of externally.  Naturally these people want to find a better place to live.