Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Australia’s Immigration Policy: Political And Economic Lessons For Europe

Iyanatul Islam 1st May 2018

Iyanatul Islam

Iyanatul Islam

Far right European politicians have apparently ‘fallen in love’ with a particular aspect of Australian immigration policy, namely, the government’s abysmal treatment of asylum seekers. The current regime of dealing with illegal arrivals seeking asylum in Australia is built on two very contentious elements: turning back ‘boat people’ who seek to reach its shores by sea; running offshore detention centres in poor island states for illegal, sea-borne arrivals at vast expense.

Such a harsh approach is seen by both the current Australian government and the Labour Opposition as the unfortunate, but necessary, price to pay for deterring those who seek to enter illegally. Its advocates contend this approach has been successful in preserving popular support for Australia’s relatively modest Refugee and Humanitarian Program.

Despite being the object of international opprobrium, successive Australian governments – both centre-right and centre-left – have maintained this rather misguided and morally dubious regime of dealing with ‘queue-jumping’ asylum-seekers. The message seems to be: if you wish to seek asylum in Australia join the queue and have the patience to be processed through the normal channels. Both Malcolm Turnbull, the current Australian Prime Minister, and Tony Abbott, his nemesis and predecessor, are united in seeking to promote this policy as worthy of emulation by rich countries of the West. These countries, especially in Europe, are feeling besieged by a huge surge in refugees seeking to escape impoverishment and conflict from various parts of the world. No wonder European populists, who wish to whip up nativist sentiment in the midst of a global refugee crisis, are seduced by this siren song emanating from ‘Down Under’.

It is indeed a pity that that European politicians– or at least some of them – appear to be learning the wrong lessons and to have fallen prey to a distorted narrative of how Australia conducts its immigration policy.

Australia now has three streams in its permanent migration program – family, skill and humanitarian. The skill stream – by far the largest– is in turn supplemented by a temporary migration program. This includes international students in Australia and time-bound migrants that can respond to perceived labour market imperatives.


Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content. We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Sign up here

Cultural diversity

Australia’s bipartisan approach to skilled immigration has been a key instrument of enhancing cultural diversity. Conservative politicians in Europe ought to be reminded that the current Australian Prime Minister is not merely keen to advocate a muscular approach to border protection but fond of saying that Australia is ‘the most successful multicultural society in the world’.

Should European policy-makers accept this as fact or as an antipodean version of post-truth politics? It turns out that Turnbull can appeal to salient facts that lend support to his proclamations, but Australia has some way to go before it merits that title. Despite this caveat, Turnbull should be commended for invoking multicultural cohesion as a key measure of societal success. This is an important message in a European environment of rising xenophobia and nativist populism.

The 2018 Australian government report on ‘Shaping a Nation’ compiles some impressive statistics. In recent years, permanent migration intake has been set at 190,000 annually, with 70 per cent of this skilled migration. There are now 11 Asian countries, with China and India in the lead, among the top 20 source countries for migrants – a far cry from the heyday of ‘White Australia’ policy that was characterised by UK, Irish and other European migrants.

In the 2000s, migration has accounted for just over 50 percent of Australia’s population growth, most notably in its state capital cities, ranging from 32 percent (Hobart) to 63 per cent (Sydney). The migrant share of the population in the state capital cities now average 30 percent. Furthermore, 49 percent of Australia’s population is either a migrant or a child of one. Such statistics make Australia an outlier among OECD countries.

There have been recent calls in some quarters – as in Europe – for sharply reducing the current rate of migration. A good example is the case of Abbott who argues the case for a much reduced migration intake. What can one say about the likely economic consequences of this proposition? Will it improve the quality of life and labour market outcomes, most notably in terms of wage growth, as its advocates proclaim? The available evidence casts considerable doubt on such advocacy.

Bring us your skills

The ‘Shaping a Nation’ report claims that:

Australia’s focus on skilled migration has demonstrated positive effects for economic growth, because our migrants on average lift potential GDP and GDP per capita through …population, participation and productivity. In particular, migration has played an important role in ameliorating and alleviating the adverse effects of our aging population. Further, migrants generate jobs and economic opportunities more broadly, because they lift aggregate demand through consumption and investment. Temporary migrants also lift our exports, particularly in the education sector.

The report finds that migrants, once they have acclimatized to local labour market conditions, have rather similar unemployment rates to Australian-born residents and the skilled ones enjoy a modest wage premium over their indigenous counterparts because they gravitate to higher-paying jobs. It rejects the view that migrants at the low end of the skill spectrum are responsible for a ‘race-to-the-bottom’ scenario of intense competition for limited job opportunities and depressed wages. Migrants seem to complement, rather than compete, with local workers.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

The report notes that the fiscal consequences of migration, especially of the skilled variety, are favourable, leaving the government with a lifetime (estimated over 50 years) projected ‘surplus’ of A$ 9.7 billion (€6bn). Skilled migrants (of the 2014-2015 cohort) in employment generate tax revenues that significantly exceed the support they receive through welfare payments and other forms of services. More importantly, the estimates suggest that skilled migrants cross-subsidize the family intake and the refugee and humanitarian programs because these have negative budgetary consequences.

Social cohesion

Any debate over immigration cannot ignore issues pertaining to cultural identity and social cohesion. This is at the core of primordial emotions about the ‘other’ that are evoked by those influenced by a nativist agenda in Europe and elsewhere. The report devotes just two paragraphs to these highly sensitive issues. This is where the ‘Mapping Cohesion Surveys’ become invaluable.

The evidence is encouraging. A solid majority (63 percent) consider Australia’s high migration intake to be acceptable and an even higher majority (more than 80 percent) agree that multiculturalism has been beneficial. Yet, there are areas of considerable concern. As the latest (2017) Survey notes, ‘there is a relatively high degree of negative feeling towards Muslims’, ranging from 25 percent to 41 percent, depending on the survey instrument that is used. Self-reported cases of discrimination based on race, religion and ethnicity have jumped from 9 percent to 20 percent in recent years.

A 2018 Australian Human Rights Commission report laments the utter lack of cultural diversity in leadership positions by examining the background of ‘chief executive officers of ASX 200 companies, federal ministers, heads of federal and state government departments, and vice chancellors of universities’. To their dismay, the authors find that:

…about 95 per cent of senior leaders in Australia have an Anglo-Celtic or European background. Although those who have non-European and Indigenous backgrounds make up 24 percent of the Australian population, such backgrounds account for only 5 per cent of senior leaders. Cultural diversity is particularly low within the senior leadership of Australian government departments and Australian universities.

The report notes that, unless determined public action is taken, including implementing such an elementary step as collecting systematic data on cultural diversity among Australia’s leaders, the problem will remain entrenched and dent the country’s strongly held perception as a ‘fair go’ society.

In sum, it is important for European politicians to jettison their interest in Australia’s cold-hearted and callous approach to ‘queue-jumping’ asylum seekers and focus instead on the promising lessons that can be learnt from its skilled migration program. Such a program has engendered multiple economic benefits and enabled ‘White Australia’ to reinvent itself as a peaceful and prosperous multicultural society. Of course, there are remaining challenges, but migration in Australia has indeed shaped a nation in a positive way.

Iyanatul Islam

Iyanatul Islam is Adjunct Professor at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia and former branch chief, ILO, Geneva.

You are here: Home / Politics / Australia’s Immigration Policy: Political And Economic Lessons For Europe

Most Popular Posts

Russian soldiers' mothers,war,Ukraine The Ukraine war and Russian soldiers’ mothersJennifer Mathers and Natasha Danilova
IGU,documents,International Gas Union,lobby,lobbying,sustainable finance taxonomy,green gas,EU,COP ‘Gaslighting’ Europe on fossil fuelsFaye Holder
Schengen,Fortress Europe,Romania,Bulgaria Romania and Bulgaria stuck in EU’s second tierMagdalena Ulceluse
income inequality,inequality,Gini,1 per cent,elephant chart,elephant Global income inequality: time to revise the elephantBranko Milanovic
Orbán,Hungary,Russia,Putin,sanctions,European Union,EU,European Parliament,commission,funds,funding Time to confront Europe’s rogue state—HungaryStephen Pogány

Most Recent Posts

reality check,EU foreign policy,Russia Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—a reality check for the EUHeidi Mauer, Richard Whitman and Nicholas Wright
permanent EU investment fund,Recovery and Resilience Facility,public investment,RRF Towards a permanent EU investment fundPhilipp Heimberger and Andreas Lichtenberger
sustainability,SDGs,Finland Embedding sustainability in a government programmeJohanna Juselius
social dialogue,social partners Social dialogue must be at the heart of Europe’s futureClaes-Mikael Ståhl
Jacinda Ardern,women,leadership,New Zealand What it means when Jacinda Ardern calls timePeter Davis

Other Social Europe Publications

front cover scaled Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship
Women Corona e1631700896969 500 Women and the coronavirus crisis
sere12 1 RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?

ETUI advertisement

The EU recovery strategy: a blueprint for a more Social Europe or a house of cards?

This new ETUI paper explores the European Union recovery strategy, with a focus on its potentially transformative aspects vis-à-vis European integration and its implications for the social dimension of the EU’s socio-economic governance. In particular, it reflects on whether the agreed measures provide sufficient safeguards against the spectre of austerity and whether these constitute steps away from treating social and labour policies as mere ‘variables’ of economic growth.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound webinar: Making telework work for everyone

Since 2020 more European workers and managers have enjoyed greater flexibility and autonomy in work and are reporting their preference for hybrid working. Also driven by technological developments and structural changes in employment, organisations are now integrating telework more permanently into their workplace.

To reflect on these shifts, on 6 December Eurofound researchers Oscar Vargas and John Hurley explored the challenges and opportunities of the surge in telework, as well as the overall growth of telework and teleworkable jobs in the EU and what this means for workers, managers, companies and policymakers.


WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The winter issue of the Progressive Post magazine from FEPS is out!

The sequence of recent catastrophes has thrust new words into our vocabulary—'polycrisis', for example, even 'permacrisis'. These challenges have multiple origins, reinforce each other and cannot be tackled individually. But could they also be opportunities for the EU?

This issue offers compelling analyses on the European health union, multilateralism and international co-operation, the state of the union, political alternatives to the narrative imposed by the right and much more!


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

The macroeconomic effects of re-applying the EU fiscal rules

Against the background of the European Commission's reform plans for the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), this policy brief uses the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to simulate the macroeconomic implications of the most relevant reform options from 2024 onwards. Next to a return to the existing and unreformed rules, the most prominent options include an expenditure rule linked to a debt anchor.

Our results for the euro area and its four biggest economies—France, Italy, Germany and Spain—indicate that returning to the rules of the SGP would lead to severe cuts in public spending, particularly if the SGP rules were interpreted as in the past. A more flexible interpretation would only somewhat ease the fiscal-adjustment burden. An expenditure rule along the lines of the European Fiscal Board would, however, not necessarily alleviate that burden in and of itself.

Our simulations show great care must be taken to specify the expenditure rule, such that fiscal consolidation is achieved in a growth-friendly way. Raising the debt ceiling to 90 per cent of gross domestic product and applying less demanding fiscal adjustments, as proposed by the IMK, would go a long way.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ILO advertisement

Global Wage Report 2022-23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power

The International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report is a key reference on wages and wage inequality for the academic community and policy-makers around the world.

This eighth edition of the report, The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, examines the evolution of real wages, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The report includes evidence on how wages have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis as well as how the current inflationary context is biting into real wage growth in most regions of the world. The report shows that for the first time in the 21st century real wage growth has fallen to negative values while, at the same time, the gap between real productivity growth and real wage growth continues to widen.

The report analysis the evolution of the real total wage bill from 2019 to 2022 to show how its different components—employment, nominal wages and inflation—have changed during the COVID-19 crisis and, more recently, during the cost-of-living crisis. The decomposition of the total wage bill, and its evolution, is shown for all wage employees and distinguishes between women and men. The report also looks at changes in wage inequality and the gender pay gap to reveal how COVID-19 may have contributed to increasing income inequality in different regions of the world. Together, the empirical evidence in the report becomes the backbone of a policy discussion that could play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the different ongoing crises.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube