Big business has sided with the Albanese government by rejecting the “misconception” that migration is higher than normal and the “disingenuous” claim by the Coalition that Labor is pursuing a big Australia policy.
In a report titled Migration Makes Australia Stronger, to be released on Thursday, the Business Council of Australia calls for reforms to make migration more business-friendly and rejects concerns about a surge in arrivals after Covid border closures were lifted.
The report follows similar warnings from Australian Industry Group chief executive, Innes Willox, at the National Press Club last week that it was “really, really unfortunate” that some have “demonised” migration.
In September the Albanese government raised Australia’s permanent migration intake by 35,000 places to 195,000. Since borders were reopened in late 2021, Australia has experienced an increase in uncapped temporary arrivals, causing an increase in near-term projections of net migration.
Coalition frontbenchers including shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, and shadow housing minister Michael Sukkar, have all criticised the government for planning to bring in 1.5 million more people over five years.
On Monday, Tehan told Sky News that Labor was “hellbent on a big Australia policy”.
According to the report, Australia’s population is estimated to be more than 375,000 people below the pre-pandemic forecast.
“Even by the end of the decade, the population is still expected to be 225,000 short of the pre-pandemic projection for that same period,” it said.
“It is disingenuous to call current migration numbers part of a ‘big Australia’ policy.”
The BCA chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, said “two-thirds of Australians believe that properly planned and well-managed migration is beneficial to the nation”.
“However, there is a current misconception that our migration figures are higher than normal,” she said.
“It is important to recognise migration numbers currently recorded simply reflect a rebalancing after the pandemic border closures in 2020 and 2021.
“Our population is actually expected to be smaller than previously forecast irrespective of the current catch-up period of migration.”
The report also argues that migration is being used as a “scapegoat for poor planning and the failure to deliver housing supply”.
Anthony Albanese will discuss measures to boost housing supply at national cabinet on Wednesday, in return for $2bn of extra federal support for social and affordable housing.
In April the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, released a review of migration criticising the fact that 1.8 million temporary workers remain in Australia with a lesser status “akin to guest workers”.
In response, the Albanese government is aiming to introduce a three-tiered assessment designed to cut red tape and reduce delays to permanent residency, which O’Neil suggested may ultimately mean “a smaller migration program for the country”.
Westacott said the reforms would “greatly simplify the current system”.
The BCA’s paper also calls for changes to improve skills recognition, standardising the timeframe for temporary visas to four years, a test that international students are “genuinely” coming to study, and “changes to the cost prohibitive and ineffectual Skilling Australians fund levy”.
The BCA complained that the levy is “not tied to occupations subject to the visa sponsorship, meaning employers were paying to train staff in industries that were not relevant to them, and not necessarily connected to skill shortages”.
