Migration to Australia is a key election issue

The number of people emigrating to Australia is becoming a key battleground in the countries forthcoming election.

Both the ruling Labor party, headed by PM Kevin Rudd, and the Liberal’s, who are led by Tony Abbott, take opposing sides on the “Big Australia” debate.

Australia’s new Population Minister Tony Burke says the opposition must explain its new position on migration to the business community.The Opposition’s Spokesman, Scott Morrison, says the migration rate should be lower to achieve a lower population than the 36 million people that the Treasury predicts for 2050.

Mr Morrison says the net migration rate is 300,000 a year and he argues that’s too high.But Mr Burke says that includes 120,000 temporary visitors such as students or workers brought in to deal with skills shortages.

“Essentially what they’re saying to all the people who are relying on jobs in those sorts of sectors that they’re willing to put caps and cuts against those temporary migration figures now normally we’ve always spoken about permanent migration when we’ve dealt with these sorts of capacity issues,” he said. ”The Opposition ventured into some very new territory today.”

Tags: Australian election

Source: australiamagazine.co.uk/