Australian Democracy No Place For Thoughtless And Irresponsible Electioneering

Immigration Debate Needs Reality Check

The Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Victoria (eccv) has called for a more realistic debate about Australia’ immigration levels following Kevin Andrews mischievous calls to drastically slash our migrant intake.

“Any discussion about immigration levels must be done with all the facts on the table. Immigration has been of enormous benefit to Australian society with the successful settlement of over 7 million migrants since World War II. This immigration has greatly enriched and strengthened our society and economy”, said Chairperson Sam Afra

“Our immigration program is about both Australia’s overall economic interest and our human rights obligations around refugee resettlement and family reunion. It is about how we populate ourselves and how we grow our communities.

“Our current migration levels also benefit our economy at around $500 million per year rising to $1 billion per year over two decades. Australia’s strong immigration rates have also helped ensure that Australia has avoided recession during the recent global financial crisis.

“To suggest slashing our immigration levels to well below the number of people permanently leaving Australia is not only ridiculous but mischievous. It feeds a negative and populist debate around immigration and ignores the great benefits immigration brings to our country.

“While immigration levels are always fluctuating depending on labour market needs and resource issues we cannot deny the overall fundamental benefits of immigration to Australia’s national prosperity and security. Continued immigration is also not incompatible with improved environmental outcomes provided we all collectively reduce our carbon footprint and continue to invest creatively in water and water saving measures.

“Australia is an open, diverse and outward looking immigrant nation that has prospered and will continue to prosper through a properly managed immigration program. To deny this is to deny the reality of Australia”, concluded Mr Afra

For further information, please contact Sam Afra 0421 124 112 or Ross Barnett 0417 489 226.