Australia expects drop in migrants as economy slows
Updated
The Australian government is resisting calls to slash its immigration intake. But it says there may be a slight drop in the number of people allowed to migrate to the country because demand is falling. Skilled migrants, however, will remain vital to fill the gaps in Australia's workforce and as the government spends on infrastructure to help sustain the economy.
Presenter: Linda Mottram, Canberra Correspondent
Speakers: Chris Evans, Australian immigration minister; Maureen Horder, chief executive officer, Migration Institute of Australia
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MOTTRAM: Last year the Australian government announced a record high number of migration places, including more than 133,000 in the skilled category. But as the government tries to stave off recession, it's coming under growing pressure, particularly from trade unions. Australia's immigration minister, Chris Evans, has been asked whether he's considering following a British move to restrict skilled migrants in the face of dire economic conditions.
EVANS: We've been very successful in attracting high quality migrants to this country. We'll continue to need to do so, because our demographic trend is such that our workforce will decline from 2010 onwards, and we'll continue to have a need for migrant labour, but we've been focused very much at the high skilled end over the years and we'll continue to be focused on the skills we need.
MOTTRAM: Australia's skilled migration intake is increasingly driven by demand in the economy. And Minister Evans says he expects demand to drop. So for the first time, the minister has said that the quota of permanent migration places next year could be cut in response to economic conditions.
EVANS: It's fair to say that we expect the demand in the economy for labour to reduce, as it's a program very much linked to the demand for labour, we expect to run a smaller program.
MOTTRAM: Already there's been a dramatic fall in the number of applications for temporary work visas to Australia. Two categories though that are not under review, the minister says, are the trial of a Pacific Islands guest worker scheme, and Australia's humanitarian intake.
What won't continue though are the current arrangements for regulating Australia's three-thousand-seven-hundred migration agents, often the first point of contact for those wanting to go to Australia.
The immigration minister decided this month that from mid-year, the industry body, the Migration Institute of Australia, will lose its contract to regulate agents. Instead a regulatory body will be set up with administrative assistance from the government's own immigration department. A stream of claims over time about unscrupulous agents has undermined the image of the agents. And the government has been concerned that the industry has been regulating itself. Appearing before a parliamentary committee looking at immigration issues, the Australian Migration Institute's chief executive officer, Maureen Horder, agreed the very term migration agent was now heavily tainted.
HORDER: It appears there's been such an accumulated history of negative press coverage over such a long period of time that there is scant prospect, dare I say, no prospect, that whilst they remain labelled as migration agents that reputable practitioners in this field, who are duly registered and provide professional and ethical services to the community, will have any deserved improved public recognition.
MOTTRAM: She's unconvinced, though, about giving regulation to the immigration department, instead calling for an independent body. Whatever the new regulatory arrangements, Ms Horder says that there's another big gap in the system, that migration agents operating outside Australia are not required to submit to Australian standards, with some such as education agents straying into giving migration advice where they're not necessarily qualified to do so.
HORDER: That's the kind of situation where I believe we have some real confusion of roles. And it's really why I'm saying we would like to see those that are true professionals and trained practitioners to be separated from those who are not but are acting out in the same broad market place.
MOTTRAM: The image of Australia's overseas migration agents matters to Canberra, particularly given the economic importance of education migration into Australia. Australia's image in the eyes of Iraq, though, may have been enhanced by a very particular immigration measure. Since announcing last year that it would give visas to Iraqis who helped Australia in its role in the war in Iraq, immigration officials have confirmed that 400 Iraqis have taken up the option.
