Australia potrzebuje więcej imigrantów

Australian National University (ANU) Professor Peter McDonald says immigration is a factor of labour demand and has a vital connection to economic expansion.

‘The discussion in Australia is that we can fix population growth and forget about its relationship with the economy,’ he told a seminar hosted by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) on Tuesday.

‘If the government is going to say we are going to cut immigration, I think it’s incumbent upon the government to point to the projects and economic aspects they are not going to do.’

Prof McDonald, the director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at ANU, said the growth of mining and other industries meant Australia needed to fill labour shortages.

‘You can’t say on one hand we are going to … have rapid (economic) growth, but we are not going to let people come into Australia,’ he said.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said last month she did not believe in a ‘big Australia’ policy targeting a population of 36 million by 2050, while the federal opposition wants to scale back skilled migration in a strategy to manage population growth.

Prof McDonald said Australia’s intake of 44,000 permanent migrants in the 2008-2009 year was insufficient to meet labour demand because it provided only 30,000 new skilled workers, which was ‘well below current demand’.

This took into account the fact that many of the permanent migrants accepted included spouses and children, those already working here and successful offshore applicants who continued to work outside Australia.

Prof McDonald said this had led to an increase in employers relying on temporary workers to meet labour shortages.

‘Employers are turning to other categories to meet their labour demand … one in every 10 workers in the Australian economy is a temporary worker,’ he said.

Prof McDonald said the five main visa types relied upon to help meet Australia’s labour shortages were overseas students, New Zealanders, those with a 457 visa, working holidaymakers and tourists.

‘The increase in temporary visa holders is a vital component of meeting the needs of the labour force immediately,’ he said.