Immigration

When the pandemic first arrived on Australia’s shores in early 2020, it set off a fascinating economic experiment on a grand scale: what would productivity growth look like without not only high migration but no migration at all?

Earlier today we got the latest net long term and permanent arrivals data from the ABS.

In March 2023, the Albanese government signed an agreement with the Indian government pledging that Australia would recognize Indian qualifications in Australia as part of a broader slate of agreements with New Delhi.

As part of the campaign strategy for the 1992 U.S Presidential Election, political consultant James Carville came up with a slogan that first defined the internal focus of the Clinton and later the broader public campaign for the presidency.

In recent times the issue of migration has been catapulted to the forefront, with each of the now three major powers in Australian federal politics (as measured by primary vote) pledging further cuts to the intake which currently stands at 301,000.

Last week, I debated Matt Grudnoff from The Australia Institute live on ABC Radio National on the topic of immigration.

In October 2024, the Canadian government announced that it would be acting to further slash migration levels into their corner of the cold north.

Immigration influencer Abul Rizvi often rudely abuses people on Twitter (X), only to end up with egg on his face (for example, see here, here, here, and here).

I noted last week how Australia’s immigration system is overwhelmingly unskilled.

One positive recent reform undertaken by the Albanese government to Australia’s migration system was allocating far more permanent skilled places to employer-sponsored visas at the expense of regional visas.

This week’s official quarterly population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirmed that net overseas migration (NOM) continues to run hot under the Albanese Labor government.

Immigration lies have spread like wildfire among federal Labor MPs.

As accounting tricks go, it’s a howler.

Over the weekend, Immigration Minister Tony Burke was interviewed by Sky News, where he boasted that “we’ve already got (immigration numbers) down 45% from where they were, and as the budget papers make clear, we continue to get them lower”.

Net overseas migration (NOM) has routinely exceeded the Albanese government’s forecasts since coming to office in mid-2022.

Under Australian immigration rules, both international students and graduate visa holders can bring family members with them.

Canada’s newly declared recession has exposed how heavily the country’s headline GDP growth relied on record‑high immigration, with Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledging that reducing immigration contributed to the downturn, according to the National Post.

Amid the rise of One Nation to the top of the list for the primary vote, according to the most recent aggregate polling data, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to continue reducing migration over the years ahead.

Australia’s immigration system is broken.

Immigration influencer Abul Rizvi often rudely abuses people on Twitter (X), only to end up with egg on his face.

For over 15 years, the people of Britain have been promised lower migration, and time after time, the British people have gone to the polls and voted for just that.