Which party will get your vote?
With an August election in Australia now a certainty, do you know anything about the parties policies on one of the biggest issues to affect our readers and members?
We take a look at both parties’ policies on immigration to give you a better idea of where potential migrants to Australia will stand after the August elections, as well as a brief overview of the parties policies on other key issues to affect Australia.
The Labour Party Policy on Immigration
The slogan ‘Australia Needs Skills’ has now been changed to ‘Skills Australia Needs’ to reflect the way Australian immigration policy is changing in preference to highly skilled migrants rather than those with general skills. The emphasis is on employers’ needs and so the DIAC will be choosy when granting Australian visas.
The Points Test scheme and the migrant selection process are up for review to ensure that all skilled shortages in Australia are covered by the new Skilled Occupations List.
The migrant selection process will follow a similar pattern to that of New Zealand where prospective migrants issue an interest to emigrate to Australia and will then be selected according to their occupation/experience in relation to skills needed at the time in Australia.
The focus will be on permanent migration and not temporary.
Liberal Party Immigration Policy
Their immigration policy will focus on building the Australia economy with both temporary and permanent migration. To this end the critical skills list will be reintroduced in order to focus on skills needs of industrial Australia.
The temporary business visas (457s) will be made more accessible to smaller and rural businesses. There will be a particular drive to ensure that rural Australia benefits from temporary and permanent migration.
Refugees
The Liberal party have pledged to stop the boatloads of illegal immigrants from arriving in Australia, promising to assess all refugees offshore in places such as Christmas Island. All asylum seekers will be given temporary visas.
The Labour Party are also considering processing all refugees offshore and have already capped the asylum seekers who arrive from Afghanistan. The Party promises to strengthen border security.
Population
The Liberal Party will extend the role of the Productivity Commission to advise on population and sustainability. The Commission promises to listen to the opinions of ordinary Australians through an independent inquiry. A population growth band target will be set.
Julia Gillard for the Labour Party has already spoken out against a ‘big Australia’ saying that Australia needs to be sustainable. To reflect this, the Population Minister Tony Burke has now become the Minister for Sustainable Population.
At the moment Labour are ahead in the polls but with a month of campaigning ahead of them, this could all change as both parties’ policies are scrutinised.
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