Angus Taylor’s tough talk on migration puts politics over policy and risks feeding damaging stereotypes

The more the Coalition leans into tough talk about migration, the more it risks feeding damaging stereotypes while alienating business groups that rely on migration, writes Alan Gamlen Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

Australia’s migration debate is obsessed with the wrong question.

The question is usually: are too many people coming to Australia? But that framing is misleading. The better question is: how should Australia manage the growing number of temporary migrants already living here, and how should that population be linked to housing, infrastructure, jobs and social cohesion?