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Australia is the golden child of immigration stats. We’ve got the fastest migration rates in the developed world – well about the global average. Of the more than 23 million people that still called Australia home in 2016, nearly half were either born overseas or had one or more parents that were. Which makes it surprising that underneath it all, we might not actually be that sold on it.
The Australian Population Research Institute (TAPRI) asked voters if they’d like to see more, the same or reduced immigration: 54% said reduced. 74% said Australia didn’t need any more people. So why the hush hush?
As TAPRI Vice-President Katharine Betts notes – it might be down to perception. 44% of respondents said they might feel threatened if they were to raise the topic of immigration.
‘There are people who are threatened by the possibility that they might be slurred by being racist and that keeps them quiet so they don’t talk about it.’
It’s not just the social stigma, there’s a big political push to keep the growth going. Put simply, it keeps our economy going. Last night’s budget is no exception: if Treasurer Scott Morrison wants his 3% economic growth, it’s thought we’ll need to keep boosting our population numbers by 1.5% each year. Given our birth rates have been on the decline since the seventies, immigration might be our only answer!
Independent Senator David Leyonhjelm thinks the government’s just not doing a great job selling immigration. “I think underneath it all people would like to see a lot of immigration – they just need satisfying that it will be OK”.
Katharine Betts says it’s more about ensuring we’ve got an educated population, with informed opinions. ‘Then we could work out what the voters actually wanted’.
