Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Migration, pathway to nation building report concludes almost two years of effort, as the chair, the member for Calwell, and I well know. The committee conducted as many hearings as we could to hear from those in our regions. I was delighted to take the committee to Robinvale in my electorate and speak to horticultural farmers and those who employ people who come from overseas to enjoy our prosperity but also to participate in building it. I also commend the member for Calwell and the committee secretariat team in achieving the outcome that we have.

I have to, however, record that I want to begin with one reservation I and my coalition colleagues have about two recommendations in the report. I communicated in the committee that I hold concerns about recommendations 75 and 76. These recommendations propose:

… the Australian Government develop and implement the establishment of a fully funded, independent collaborative institution for research and data collection and analysis related to migration policy, and associated policy impacts in social cohesion, employment, health, and any other relevant policy and portfolio considerations.

The establishment of such an institution with such a broad range of responsibilities will be a financial cost to the government and taxpayers on an ongoing basis. No details of the cost to establish and operate such an institution and the advisory panel of eminent experts has been calculated in this report. Such an institution would also duplicate activities that are already undertaken by the government and existing bodies such as the Grattan Institute, the Australian Population Research Institute, the Australian Institute of Family Studies, most Australian universities and the Centre for Population. An alternative recommendation is that the government reviews the operation of the Centre for Population, which is part of the Department of the Treasury, to determine if its objectives could be broadened to provide additional data and information to government concerning migration policy.

Having said that, as the member for Mallee and shadow assistant minister for regional health, I agree with the chair very much that Australia has always depended on migration to grow our nation in size and capabilities. It is in Australia's DNA to welcome migrants to our country. Migrants have brought aspects of their culture, their cuisine, their faiths and their skills, which have added to our multicultural richness. However, we have a responsibility to ensure our migration settings are right and that they benefit our country, not just in economic terms but also in cultural terms. What we're seeing in our streets currently, I believe, shows that we have not necessarily got those settings completely right. People desire to come to our country for many reasons, but our social cohesion, opportunities to prosper, democratic principles and rule of law, which bring a respectful order to our way of life, are foundational to who we are as Australians. These are currently under threat, and we must do more to ensure that what has brought people here is not lost.

Regarding the public inquiry into migration and nation-building, I was, as I said, proud to take the committee to Robinvale to hear from local farmers about the desperate state they repeatedly find themselves in regarding workforce shortages. Migrants play a key role in getting food from paddock to plate for all Australians and, indeed, the world. The visa system is not fit for purpose, and there are many opportunities for improvement in our current migrant workforce settings. Mallee and the Murray-Darling Basin depend on a workforce for manual picking.

I note that the report did not recommend removing the agricultural visa established by the former government. The National Party has fought long and hard to establish the ag visa. Farmers tell me over and over again that this particular visa will meet their needs, especially in the horticultural space. This visa, which has not been implemented by the current government, will be returned under a coalition government. There are some fruits that need particular skills in harvesting. I have never done that, so I'm not going to pretend to be an expert; however, it is not a case of one size fits all.

As to skills shortages in the regions in general, even this last week a local business in Mallee was trying to hire a physiotherapist, as we deal with our dire health workforce shortages. He was shocked at the fees he had to pay for the privilege of bringing someone in. I've met with GP practices across my electorate and have heard the same thing over and over. The cost for visa approvals is prohibitive. It needs to be addressed. In fact, Master Builders Australia have made the case that regions and small businesses which dominate regional economies should be exempt from paying the Skilling Australians Fund levy. There is some force to that point but it's not one made in this report.

On health workforce shortages, the committee recently went to New Zealand and Vanuatu. There are two points from that trip relevant to this report. New Zealand accepts doctors from 24 countries. We accept graduates from five. Vanuatu and PALM workers we will discuss another time, but they are an essential part of our agricultural sector.

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

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Debate adjourned.