The Outlook: for immigration

Australia, a nation shaped by permanent migration, appears to be shifting to a new reality which some say is a permanent shift to temporary migration.

Passengers make their way through Melbourne Airport Source: AAP

Peter Mares is the author of Not Quite Australian: How Temporary Migration is Changing the Nation, an analysis commissioned by SBS and published today ((0900 aest, August 21)). 

It looks at the growing numbers of temporary visas and the consequences of that,  and asks whether Australia's model of permanent settlement is giving way to a new reality - Australia as a guest worker society.