Source : Perth Now news
One Nation’s plan to slash migration by more than 750,000 over three years would “kill the economy”, a cabinet minister has warned.
The policy was unveiled on Monday with the intent of restoring living standards by easing pressures on housing and essential services and bringing “population growth back to a sustainable rate”, according to One Nation.
“I know Australians are doing it tough,” leader Pauline Hanson said.
“Families are competing with hundreds of people for rental accommodation.
“Patients are stuck in ambulances because there are not enough hospital beds.
“Young Australians are being locked out of home ownership while wages and infrastructure fail to keep up.”
She said the “Labor-Liberal political cartel has sacrificed Australian living standards to serve vested interests demanding continued mass migration” and that a “larger economy on paper means nothing if Australians are poorer per person and cannot afford a home, find a hospital bed or get ahead”.
“A larger economic pie doesn’t mean anything if individual Australians’ slice of it is getting smaller,” Senator Hanson said.
But Environment Minister Murray Watt dismissed the plan.
“What is very clear from this policy is that it would kill the Australian economy and kill regional economies in particular,” he told the ABC, pointing to early industry responses, including farmers.
“These are the industries and communities that One Nation claims to represent and support.
“But their own policies would actually deliver a hammer blow to regional economies right across Australia.
“I mean, I don’t know when the last time Barnaby Joyce or Pauline Hanson walked into a doctor’s clinic, a hospital, an aged-care facility, to a construction site, to a country pub, to see the number of migrants who are working in these populations.”
Senator Watt, known as Anthony Albanese’s fixer, said Labor understood “that we do need to bring down the number of migrants coming into Australia”, and that the Albanese government had been “doing that since we came to office and we intend to do more”.
“But we need to do it in a way that manage economic impact and doesn’t wipe out country pubs, aged care facilities, hospitals, all around Australia,” he said.
‘Political football’
The National Farmers’ Federation responded to One Nation’s plan by warning it could hurt producers’ ability to feed the country.
“Migration should not be treated as a political football,” chief executive Michel Guerin said.
“This is about food security, keeping farms operating and ensuring food remains affordable for Australian families.”
He said the NFF had not “seen the detail of this proposal, but we know temporary workers help put food on tables, with backpackers alone filling roughly one in seven farm jobs nationally”.
“They also spend millions in regional communities and generally stay in hostels, caravan parks or purpose-built on-farm accommodation,” Mr Guerin said.
“They are not the cause of Australia’s housing crisis.
“We have walked this path before during Covid when worker shortages contributed to fresh produce price increases of 15-25 per cent.
“Any reform must involve genuine consultation with the industries affected.”
Speaking to international students specifically, he said they “also contribute to agriculture’s workforce, particularly through casual and seasonal roles in regional areas, helping farms meet peak labour needs when local workers are not available”.
“Higher education is itself a major economic contributor, and with many universities based in regional Australia, any changes need to consider the flow-on impacts for regional economies as well as farms,” Mr Guerin said.
More to come
