Some migrants cited racism, inability to find a job in their own field and a strict parental reunion policy as some of the reasons — and experts like Fethi Mansouri agree, reported abc.net.au
Australia is attempting to attract skilled migrants from countries like India to address economy-wide skills shortages. However, many are leaving after failing to realise their dreams.
Some migrants cited racism, inability to find a job in their own field and a strict parental reunion policy as some of the reasons — and experts like Fethi Mansouri agree, reported abc.net.au.
Mansouri, the director of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation said Australia was lagging behind other comparable countries in migrant intake. “For roughly the same period, 2021, for Australia, we had 145,000 new migrants. Germany, in particular, attracted 1.3 million new migrants … and the UK more than 600,000 migrants,” he said. “It cannot simply be explained because of the pandemic lockdown because that would have impacted other countries in the same manner.”
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that net migration from India has rebounded after the depths of COVID, but the numbers are almost half of what they were three years ago.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said to build a migration programme for the future, Australia needed to make a “big switch”. “That switch is moving away from a system focused almost entirely on keeping people out, to one that recognises that we are in a global competition for talent,” she said. “Because for the first time in our history, Australia is not the destination of choice for many of the world’s skilled migrants.”
Compared to June 2019, fewer Indians arrived in the year ending June 2022, and more have left too. In September, the federal government lifted Australia’s permanent migration cap by 35,000 for 2022/23. Speaking at the recent two-day jobs and skills summit in Canberra, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced the cap would increase to 195,000 this financial year.
Professor Mansouri said the government’s target of lifting the number of skilled migrants by more than 20 per cent would not be an “easy task” unless more was done to help migrants thrive. “We are definitely, post-pandemic, not doing … as well as other competitors who are really aggressively trying to attract migrants,” he said. “And, I think part of it is … because we haven’t really simplified processes as quickly as we should.
Professor Mansouri said an inability to attract skilled migrants could be dire for Australia’s future. “If at a time when we are facing an ageing population, the migration programs and systems do not keep up … our economic prosperity, our social fabric … will absolutely come under pressure,” he said.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said to build a migration programme for the future, Australia needed to make a “big switch”. “That switch is moving away from a system focused almost entirely on keeping people out, to one that recognises that we are in a global competition for talent,” she said. “Because for the first time in our history, Australia is not the destination of choice for many of the world’s skilled migrants.”
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