工党对反对党新移民政策的反击

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Tony Abbott caught out on sneaky political trick on immigration
Chris Evans,Tony Burke posted Sunday, 25 July 2010

Tony Abbott’s immigration “announcement” today is nothing more than a sneaky political trick.

All Mr Abbott has done is add up the current projected cuts in net overseas migration (NOM) arising from existing Government policy and call it his policy.

Phoney Tony has been caught out plagiarising the existing migration projections and trying to trick the Australian people into believing it is a new policy.

Mr Abbott has been humiliated by the facts.

Only last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed that NOM was on track to drop to 277,700 for the year ended 31 December 2009.

Latest immigration statistics confirm that Australia's NOM level is on track to drop to between 230,000 and 250,000 people by the end of the 2009-10 financial year.

Our reforms have brought under control the number of temporary visa holders.

Applications lodged for 457 visas in May 2010 are 32 percent lower than in July 2009.

Student visa numbers have dropped from 320,000 in 2008-09 to around 270,000 in 2009-2010.

BIS Shrapnel has forecast that the Net Overseas Migration in 2010-11 will be 175,000 people and 145,000 people in 2011-12.

The BIS Shrapnel forecasts indicate that NOM levels will already be lower than what Mr Abbott claims he will cut them to (170,000).

The Gillard Labor Government’s reforms to our temporary skilled and student programs – closing the massive loopholes opened by the former Coalition Government – have already been steadily driving down the NOM.

Labor’s reforms mean that the skilled migration program is now delivering the skills the Australian economy needs and ensuring skilled migrants do not compete with Australians in areas of high unemployment.

Mr Abbott’s latest trick is even more desperate than his WorkChoices trick that failed at the start of the campaign.

Just 6 months ago he was for a big Australia.

In January Mr Abbott said “there’s no reason to think that Australia has a fixed carrying capacity ...My instinct is to extend [it] to as many people as possible”

In April he said the Productivity Commission would set his immigration levels, now in the middle of the campaign he simply adds up the current projected cuts – resulting from the Government’s reforms – and calls them his policy.

We’re getting our population strategy right by developing Australia’s first ever national sustainable population strategy.

Contrast that with Mr Abbott who is just trying to trick the Australian people on the day of the leader’s debate.