Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke has strongly criticised the opposition’s immigration stance, saying it lacks substance and does little to address real issues.
Speaking about Opposition leader Angus Taylor at a press conference in Sydney yesterday, he said: “If you look at Mr Taylor’s speech, there’s not one line in that speech that delivers an extra job, not one line that builds an extra home, not one line that actually makes us any safer.”
Burke said the government has been focused on two key priorities.
“In my time in the portfolio, there have been two tasks that government has been doing and has been doing successfully. We’ve been bringing the numbers down and we’ve been bringing the standards up and the data represent that that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.”
He also took aim at the political intent behind the opposition’s approach.
“The diatribe from Mr Taylor has nothing to do with the national interest and it’s entirely about sending a message to One Nation.”
Burke rejected suggestions that migrants from liberal democracies are more suited to Australia. “Australia is and should always be a country where we judge you by who you are, not where you’re from.
“Modern Australia and multicultural Australia are the same thing. They’re the same thing.”
He pointed to migrant communities who have contributed to Australia despite coming from non-democratic backgrounds. “We have many Australians, proud of their Chinese heritage… We have many Australians, proud of their Vietnamese heritage…”
Burke also highlighted the importance of migration to Australia’s workforce and economy.
“Without immigration, we would be a very different country.”
He said overseas-born workers play a key role in sectors such as healthcare and construction. “Half of our doctors are born overseas, 43 per cent of our registered nurses are born overseas. 28 per cent of people working in building and plumbing trades are born overseas.”
On housing and infrastructure pressures, Burke said migration must be managed carefully but remains essential.
“You need to make sure that you don’t wreck your health system… you don’t slow down housing… you need to make sure that we don’t end up with our farmers, not being able to get people to pick their fruit.”
On visa overstayers, he acknowledged the scale of the challenge but said the government is addressing it.
“My simple message to anyone who thinks, what do you do when your visa runs out, you should leave… at the end of your visa, if you don’t have another visa, you should leave Australia.”
Burke said the current backlog was inherited but is being reduced. “We inherited a ridiculous backlog… we’ve been getting through it, we’ve been getting the numbers down.”
He also defended the screening process for migrants, particularly those from conflict zones. “There has never been a cohort with more security checks than this particular cohort.”
At the same time, he warned against using migration to divide communities. “We are a good country and we should not be setting people against each other.”
Burke said while migration numbers rose after the pandemic, they are now being brought back to sustainable levels.
“But it’s also the case that we’ve been taking a series of measures… to be able to get those numbers down.”
He said the focus remains on ensuring migration supports Australia’s needs. “You cannot do it without making sure we’ve got all the trades that we need.”
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