Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question; it saves one of our people asking me the very same question. The government set the 2008-09 migration program at a time when the Australian economy was booming and there were extensive skills shortages around the country. Business was crying out for skills and labour. Clearly, the global financial crisis has seen Australia’s economic circumstances change dramatically. Even the opposition must understand that. What we have done is adjust the migration program so it is responsive to the changes in the economic circumstances. So we have decided to cap this year’s program at 115,000 persons. It is a cut of 18,500 places and represents a 14 per cent cut to the original level, but that is very much as a result of those changed economic circumstances. I made some changes in December last year to make sure that we were only bringing in the people who were on the critical skills list or who were employer sponsored. These changes go further, but fundamentally they do the same thing—that is, only people who have a job will be coming into the country.

Under the previous policies, which the previous government administered, people were self-selecting, so we brought in a lot of hairdressers and a lot of cooks. What we are bringing in under the program now are people with high skills who are going straight to a job. It is the linkage between the job and the person that is the key. These changes I think will be welcomed. They will ensure that Australians are not competing with persons coming into the country for the same job. They will ensure that we have a better targeted program and I think they will ensure that we protect Australian jobs. Migration is important to this country, and will continue to be so, but these changes are prudent and timely and reflect the changed economic circumstances.