Is Australia An “Immigration Nation”?

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• AN IMMIGRATION NATION?

• Australias Need For Skilled
• Workers and Migrants

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Impact of The COVID Pandemic

• The impact of the COVID pandemic was immense.
  Australia itself now feeling the effects of its
  two-year border closure policies. The strict
  border regulations may have seemed necessary,
  considering the plight of the pandemic. However,
  businesses across the country are now struggling
  to find workers, leaving over half a million jobs
  vacant. This is a poor sight for a country once
  dubbed an immigration nation.

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• A good example is the rapidly increasing For
  Lease signs on display across Melbourne city.
  Who wouldve thought that in just a single year,
  the citys 5 million population number would
  decrease by 60,500? Of course, its wearying
  lockdowns certainly did not help. Migrant
  workers, international students and many other
  first and second-generation Australians all
  choosing to move away has left the citys working
  sector scarred. This is consistent across the
  nation and widespread across many sectors such as
  hospitality, child care, IT, education, etc.

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• No doubt this is a crisis for a country that has
  relied on immigration to boost its economy over
  the past 20-30 years. Now the Labour government
  led by Prime minister Anthony Albanese seeks to
  rebuild the countrys reputation on the global
  front for skilled workers. Although the
  government have laid out a more optimistic
  approach in the federal budget for the 2022-23
  financial year, with the main intention being to
  increase permanent immigration, the country will
  continue to struggle in building trust with the
  international market. The countrys hard border
  closure earning it the unfavourable name
  Fortress Australia along with the failure to
  provide benefits, food, social support, and
  housing to migrant workers resulted in such a
  situation.

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• Although Australia would have to work hard to
  ensure it can compete with other countries such
  as Canada and the UK in the international market
  once again, its recently proposed strategies will
  help the nation progress towards that direction.
  Increasing the migrant income threshold and
  raising the length of stay for graduates by an
  extra two years will help.

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• Another important measure is to ensure the
  reduction in visa processing times and provide a
  straightforward visa package that will allow
  companies across various industries to secure
  valuable international talent. There has also
  been a consideration in scrapping the
  much-criticized Significant Investor Visa (SIV)
  program to ensure that skilled international
  migrant workers are prioritized. The SIV program
  grants visas to investors who invest 5 million
  into the country. Although the program has
  allowed large-scale investment of around 11.8
  billion into many businesses, it is criticized as
  many see it as an easy pathway for wealthy
  individuals to live in the country, 85 of whom
  come from China.

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• Despite the importance the Australian government
  now place on attracting a large number of migrant
  workers and increasing immigration services in
  Australia, there is still a concern as to whether
  Australians would welcome an increase in
  immigration. In a recent survey of 1607 voters,
  33 were opposed to the idea of increasing
  permanent migration.

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• Economic Policy Director at Grattan Institute
  Brendan Coates makes the point that an increase
  in permanent migration will ensure larger fiscal
  dividends for the economy however, the country
  must not overly rely on cheap foreign labour, as
  this will prevent the appropriate training of
  Australians. No matter the attitude Australians
  may have, there is no doubt that Australia is
  desperate for skilled workers and migration and
  therefore will look to ensure that it can address
  the economy-wide skills shortage.