The Labor Party came out fighting against the Liberal Party, accusing them of using the same tactics that Donald Trump used in America. Government minister Julian Hill, responsible for citizenship matters, will address the Melbourne audience on Friday when he will make the case for how Labor operates the immigration program. He’s targeting Liberal MPs such as Andrew Hastie, accusing them of attempting to frighten people about migrants for political gain.
This entire battle began heating up after Hastie got fired from his shadow minister position last week. Opposition leader Sussan Ley informed him that he will no longer work on immigration policy. But Hastie and other Liberals have been busy proclaiming Australia has “mass migration” and accusing migrants of the housing shortage and congested infrastructure. The Labor Party maintains that this is not true, and the figures confirm this.
Migration Really Declining, But Opposition Refuses to Acknowledge It
Hill is going to inform the conference that net permanent migration remained at 185,000 this year, precisely the same as in the previous year. The total figures actually went up by 40% from a record high post-COVID. What they refer to as net overseas migration reached nearly 556,000 last September 2023. Now it’s around 316,000.
So why did it increase in the first place? According to Hill, it’s due to those who were already here on temporary visas extended their stays because they could get good jobs. It wasn’t the government granting lots of new visas like the Liberals continually accuse. Now those temporary workers are beginning to depart, and the figures are falling. Treasury estimates it will continue to fall to approximately 230,000 annually by the end of the decade.
Hill Declares Liberals Allowed Pauline Hanson to Grab Party
The Minister of Labor isn’t holding back. He’s calling names, Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price of the Northern Territory, for starters. “It’s not a few populists or extremists, Hastie, Price and their clique, blowing the dog whistle now; the Liberals are all following the coward’s path,” Hill will say. That’s quite heated language for parliamentary speak.
He believes the Liberal Party has undergone a complete transformation. “Pauline Hanson now lives rent-free inside their heads,” the speech says. That’s a shot at how the Liberals appear to be copying One Nation’s anti-immigrant messages. Hill is calling on Sussan Ley to come out and tell us precisely where she’d reduce immigration if the Coalition forms government, and why that would affect businesses that are having trouble finding workers. Hastie said a few weeks ago that the current migration leaves Australians “feeling like strangers in our own home”, which is a lot of what Trump has to say in America. The Coalition’s actual immigration man, Paul Scarr, doesn’t approve of the word “mass migration”, but lots of other Liberal MPs continue to use it anyway.
News At Glance
- Liberals accused of mimicking Trump’s immigration fear campaign by Julian Hill
- Net migration reduced 40% from a record high of 556,000 to around 316,000
- Permanent migration remains at 185,000 same as in other years
- Andrew Hastie lost his shadow minister role due to the immigration position last week
- Treasury predicts migration will level out at 230,000 annually by the end of the decade
FAQs
- Is immigration really getting out of hand in Australia?
No, figures fell 40% from their peak and continue to drop.
- Why did immigration increase after COVID?
Temporary workers already present remained for longer periods as they were able to get good jobs quickly.
- What happened to Andrew Hastie?
Sussan Ley removed him for handling immigration policy for the opposition last week.
- How many people migrate to Australia on a permanent basis each year?
185,000, which has not changed from years gone by, despite what the critics are claiming.
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