Australia revealed plans on Monday to significantly reduce the influx of migrants entering the country, aiming to curb a surge post-pandemic and address public discontent over the escalating cost of living.
The centre-left Labour government introduced several measures designed to make entry more challenging for various individuals, including foreign students and low-skilled workers.
These measures encompass stricter English-language requirements and elevated wage thresholds.
In the past year, approximately half a million temporary migrants arrived in the country, marking a substantial post-pandemic surge following years of closed borders.
With the proposed reforms and anticipated short-term trends, the government anticipates reducing this number to around 250,000 by 2024-2025.
“We are committed to reining in the numbers,” stated Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil, outlining components of a 100-page strategy reviewed by AFP.
Despite near-record employment rates, Australians have grown increasingly frustrated with steep price hikes and an exceedingly competitive real estate market.
The Grattan Institute, a think tank, is among those who have linked high levels of immigration to rising rental costs.
O’Neil stressed that immigration was essential to Australia’s prosperity, describing foreign workers as the “special sauce” that had made Australia great.
“Virtually everything that we have done as a country that’s truly mattered has involved asking the best and brightest from around the world to come and try to help us,” she said.
But nodding to growing public unease, she also vowed to “build a better-planned system around essential things like housing”.
Announced on Sunday, the government intends to implement a substantial surge in fees for foreign buyers who purchase homes and keep them vacant.
Over the past year, rental prices in specific regions of Sydney and Melbourne have surged by approximately 25 percent.
Rachel Stevens, an authority on immigration history at the Australian Catholic University, highlighted that the immigration reforms are as much driven by political motivations as they are by policy objectives.
Stevens cautioned against associating the escalating cost of living solely with migration, asserting that doing so could mislead and unfairly target the 2.2 million individuals on temporary visas.
“They are separate things entirely,” she said, citing the impact of rising interest rates and surging markets after Covid lockdowns, among other factors.
“Whenever there is a scarcity of a resource, whether it’s jobs or housing, it’s a very common reaction for people in many countries to blame immigrants.”
Stevens indicated that the Labour government might be keeping a watchful eye on the growing popularity of the conservative opposition and the upcoming elections projected to take place by 2025.
“It polls well”, she said, but “it’s really dangerous and quite reckless to put it all on migrants”.
Conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton has accused the government of having a “big migration programme”.
“Our cities are full, the roads are congested, the infrastructure can’t keep up”, he said earlier this month while suggesting immigrant numbers should be cut.
