Photo: Australia Government, Department of Home Affairs - Immigration & Citizenship
Australia’s migration debate flared again last week, this time sparked by Pauline Hanson marking her return to the Senate with a familiar warning about who the country is letting in.
Appearing on Sky News after resuming her seat on 5 February 2026, following a seven-day suspension late last year, the One Nation leader took aim at the skills profile of migrants entering Australia.
“Look at the people we’re bringing in the country. They’re not skilled migrants at all—rubbish,” Hanson said. “We’re bringing in people who say they’re skilled migrants. They don’t have the qualifications. We’re actually drowning in these unskilled people.”
Philip Oldfield, Head of School of Built Environment at UNSW Sydney and Prof of Architecture
The response came from an academic. Philip Oldfield, Head of the School of Built Environment at UNSW Sydney and Professor of Architecture, responded with workforce data
25% of construction workers are migrants in Australia
One Nation has been polling strongly in recent months, drawing support from voters squeezed by rising costs and disconnected from major parties. Hanson’s framing taps directly into that mood.
The response came from an academic. Philip Oldfield, Head of the School of Built Environment at UNSW Sydney and Professor of Architecture, responded with workforce data. Migrants, he noted, make up 25 per cent of Australia’s construction workforce, 50 per cent of doctors, 18 per cent of teachers and 60 per cent of engineers.
The figures shifted the argument away from slogans and back to daily reality. These are sectors already under strain, tied directly to housing supply, healthcare access, infrastructure delivery and education outcomes. The suggestion that Australia is being overwhelmed by people without skills becomes harder to sustain when those same people are building homes, staffing hospitals and designing transport networks.
Population and immigration policy expert Abul Rizvi. Photo/X
Hanson earlier clashed with immigration policy expert Abul Rizvi, who had noted that “Pauline left school at 15 without completing high school”
The exchange widened as welfare was drawn into the discussion. One commenter claimed, “1.5 million of our welfare recipients are migrants too.” Oldfield’s reply stayed with the same measured approach: “And 31.4% of the total population was born overseas…”
That comparison mirrors what earlier Centrelink data has shown. The share of welfare recipients born overseas broadly tracks the share of migrants in the population itself. It points to proportionality rather than excess, a distinction often lost in heated debates about public spending.
Hanson earlier clashed with immigration policy expert Abul Rizvi, who had noted that “Pauline left school at 15 without completing high school”. She questioned his role in shaping Australia’s migration system, saying Rizvi “was the First Assistant Secretary of the Migration and Temporary Entrant Division when the Bondi Terrorist arrived in Australia on a student visa”.
“If Sadik Akram had not been granted a student visa, and then a permanent visa, 15 Australians might still be alive”
Pauline Hanson, leader of One Nation, pictured with mine workers last year. Photo/X
“If Sadik Akram had not been granted a student visa, and then a permanent visa, 15 Australians might still be alive,” Hanson added.
Rizvi had previously pointed to a different trend, noting that net migration has fallen by around 200,000 over the past 18 months, while inflation has risen over the same period. The timing complicates claims that migration is the main driver of price pressures.
Oldfield’s figures questioned the blanket dismissal of migrants as unskilled. In construction, healthcare, engineering and education, overseas-born workers are not peripheral. They are integral, particularly as Australia’s population ages and local training pipelines struggle to meet demand.
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.@PaulineHansonOz reignited Australia's #migration debate by claiming the country is drowning in #unskilledmigrants. An academic responded wt data showing migrants comprise 50% of doctors & 60% of engineers, hghlghtng their critical role. #TheIndianSun
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