Migrant push 'a recipe for disaster'
BY DAVID ALEXANDER ECONOMICS EDITOR
23/08/2008 10:48:00 AM
Senior Opposition figures are moving to open a second front on the Government's immigration policies by highlighting the dangers of boosting migrant numbers as the economy falters and unemployment rises.
Liberal leader Brendan Nelson marched into the immigration debate this week, attacking the pilot guest worker scheme announced by the Prime Minister at the South Pacific island of Niue, saying that Australian workers should come first.
Coalition figures acknowledge the risk of being accused of playing the race card, but say Labor's plans to boost immigration levels at a time of rising unemployment will undermine public confidence in the immigration system. "Rudd has got it completely wrong," one senior Coalition figure said.
''Howard used to bring in increasing numbers of migrants based on jobs growth and lower unemployment, and that kept the public happy. Rudd is bringing in a massive surge ... at the same time as jobs are disappearing, a recipe for disaster.'' The Government announced a 20per cent increase in migration numbers in the budget, from 159,000 in 2007-08 to an estimated 190,300 in 2008-09, in order to deal with chronic labour shortages and wages inflation pressure.
The budget also forecast an increase in the unemployment rate from 4.3 per cent to 4.75 per cent a rise of more than 100,000 people, the Opposition claims.
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"Why is it beyond the wit in this country, when we've got half a million people still unemployed, that we have to bring in people from Pacific island nations to do this work?" Mr Nelson asked yesterday.
While some Coalition members support the guest worker plan, senior sources estimate this to be a clear minority.
Coalition figures point to Britain as an example of government mismanagement of an immigration program leading to a loss of public confidence in the system and an upsurge in racial problems.
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