Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, I present the committee's report, incorporating dissenting reports, entitled Migration,pathway to nation building.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—Today I rise to table the Joint Standing Committee on Migration's report entitled Migration, pathway to nation building. The report is the culmination of a nearly two-year inquiry into Australia's migration system and provides 73 recommendations on how the system can be improved. It is my hope that these recommendations complement the government's ongoing reforms of the migration system to ensure that migration continues to serve the best interests of the nation for decades to come.

As we move into the 80th year of our modern migration system, it is a good time to reflect on its history and consider its future. On 2 August 1945, in the dying days of the Second World War, Australia's inaugural Minister for Immigration, and the namesake of my electorate, Arthur Calwell, instituted a policy of 'populate or perish' to encourage the large-scale migration of Europeans, British and Irish into Australia as a means of enhancing Australia's national security. As well as national security, Calwell also saw migration as a driver of national growth and prosperity, saying that it was 'something essential to our national welfare'. Calwell welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing the war, widened the scope of immigration into Australia beyond the British Isles and promoted reforms for the greater acceptance of Chinese Australians. His pioneering reforms transformed the fabric of Australian society and laid the foundations for our modern multiculturalism.

The point of this historical background is that, from its inception, Australia's migration program was an endeavour of grand-scale nation building. Arguably, in important ways, modern Australia started with Calwell's speech on 2 August 1945. At the time, we were a nation of 7½ million people, overwhelmingly of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic heritage; in another 30 years, the population had almost doubled, and its cultural diversity increased dramatically.

Over recent years, by contrast, the migration system has been neglected. It has been used to address issues in other policy areas, be it filling ad hoc gaps in the labour market or acting as a source of revenue for higher education, and, too often, as a political tool for short-term partisan gain by successive governments. Migration policy has for too long been relegated to an afterthought. While migration can, and should, infuse our labour market with vitally needed skills and provide international students an opportunity to study at our universities, these aspects of the system should be part of a consolidated migration policy based on a larger nation-building vision. And while the Labor government has taken great steps towards this end with the migration review and migration strategy, more can be done to provide a solid basis for migration policy for the coming years.

The committee has produced a comprehensive report for this inquiry, covering virtually every aspect of the system. As a matter of priority, the committee recommends that the capacity of government to research migration issues be rebuilt through the establishment of a national research institute of migration studies. Only then can we hope to see the implementation of migration policy that is fit for purpose, integrated into a nation-building project and reactive to evidence.

Secondly, the committee heard convincing evidence that our migration system has been degraded by the amalgamation of the immigration, multicultural affairs and citizenship functions with border and national security and policing functions within the Department of Home Affairs. To deliver a migration system of world-class standing, the committee recommends that the migration system be delivered by a department dedicated to that purpose alone.

Further, the committee heard that the migration system is failing Australia's regions, which face severe labour shortages and difficulties in retaining population. And, while the company provides a number of recommendations on regional migration, the committee felt that the issues are so important that it recommends that the government refer a further inquiry on a focused regional migration priority topic to the committee.

The report makes many other recommendations related to improving the visa application system; attracting and retaining skilled migration; better accounting for the skills and experience of secondary applicants; expanding eligibility for settlement services; more effective recognition of migrants' qualifications; as well as improving outcomes for refugees and their families. I encourage any interested person to read the report to understand how these recommendations can complement the government's current migration reform agenda.

Finally, there are many people who must be thanked for their diligence and commitment in aiding this inquiry, including submitters to the inquiry and witnesses who appeared at hearings. I especially want to thank the deputy chair of the committee, the member for Mallee, for her support and collegiality as we work towards achieving a bipartisan consensus on issues vital to Australia's national interests. I want to thank the secretariat, Jeff Norris, Danton Leary, Nicole McLellan, and Lachlan Wilson, for their support and acknowledge their incredible capacity and competence, which was of the highest standard.

Finally, I also want to thank the Hon. Clare O'Neil, the then Minister for Home Affairs, for referring this inquiry and I commend the report to the parliament.

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