RR Corner: from sombre to humour!: Migration advances Australia

By Ritesh(R) Chugh and Ripan(R) Sethi

Australia has a proud history of welcoming migrants to its shores and is undoubtedly seen as a land of opportunities for new arrivals. Communities are often divided over the stance of whether Australian immigration policy has worked well or not for its inhabitants. In this article, RR have reviewed the transformation that has taken place over the years and highlighted some of the key points that should be considered while firming up your take on this issue.

Let’s kick off by highlighting that migration in Australia is not a recent phenomenon. A 2017 study has shown that the Australian migration story actually started 50,000 years ago when the ancestors of the Australian Aboriginal people arrived from South-East Asia. There have been a few major waves of migration since then, the notable ones included the Gold Rush era in 1851, the First Fleet which landed in 1788 and the Post World War II immigration program which targeted over a million displaced Europeans. It was perhaps Australia’s biggest migration scheme of the time to prepare for possible invasion by Japan, with the tagline ‘populate or perish’. Australia also took a large number of migrants from Britain, Italy and Greece. 1970-80 saw a wave of migrants from South Asia. Late 1990s and onwards saw an influx of immigrants from India and China. It is in fact difficult to do justice to the rich migration history of Australia here. According to the 2016 census, almost half of all Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.

So all good so far! Australia needs people and they have been coming from different countries not only to enrich themselves but to also give back to Australia. However, there are sections of society who perceive migration as a threat to local culture, jobs, infrastructure, housing, health system and other public resources at large. The anti-immigration sentiment exists. However, we believe these arguments lose their merit considering the social, political and economic contributions made by immigrants. A recent government report estimates that Australia’s migration program will add up to 1% to the annual average GDP growth over the next 30 years.

There are significant challenges ahead keeping in mind an aging population, which can only be addressed by an influx of young skilled immigrants. Hence, the Government’s migration strategy should largely be seen as balancing the demand supply cycle than a setback. It is evident that migration leads to a stress on resources. On the positive side, migrants generate more jobs, pay taxes, provide skills and expertise and enhance diversity.  In fact, immigrants should be seen as a solution to the problems not adversaries.

In summary, appropriately controlling immigration to Australia is a sensible strategy so that skilled migration continues, provides economic dividends, cultural diversity and generally enriches the nation. Nonetheless, the current immigration strategy addresses skill shortage areas but it should also closely monitor and assess whether those shortages are actually being filled. Finally, RR believe that the immigration trend should continue in order to not only sustain but increase the economic growth we are seeing down under, irrespective of the political dynamics.