Migration intake fuels Asylum Seeker conflict

Wednesday 21^st December 2011/mt

Migration intake fuels Asylum Seeker conflict

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that, with the exception of Singapore, during the last 5 years Australia ran far and away the biggest per capita migration program in the world – 11.1 migrants per thousand people per year.  After us came Italy, with 6.7, Canada 6.6, Sweden 5.8, Hong Kong 5.1, the United States and the United Kingdom 3.3, and New Zealand 3.1.

I believe the Australian people are instinctively generous and good-hearted, but their tolerance has been stretched to breaking point by the quadrupling of the skilled migration program over the past 15 years, which has generated competition for jobs and housing and put pressure on family living standards.

As a consequence the debate about asylum seekers is very divisive.  It is doing nothing for our sense of national unity and respect for each other.

We should not expect the Australian people to accept an increase in the refugee intake in isolation.  It should be part of a package where skilled migration is cut by 50,000.  There are many good reasons to cut our migration program, and one of them is that it is likely to lift public support for an increased refugee program, which I think it’s something we have to bring to the table when we are working with our regional neighbours on the asylum seeker issue.  Furthermore the Australian people have said over and over that they think our migration level is too high, so cutting our massive migration rate is giving the Australian people what they want. 

In fact we could cut our migration program to 74,000, rather than 174,000, and we’d still be running one of the biggest per capita programs in the world – as big as the  UK, Italy and Sweden, and bigger than the US and New Zealand.

KELVIN THOMSON MP

Overseas Student Visa Breaches

Thursday 2^nd June 2011/ac

Kelvin Thomson MP

Federal Member for Wills

Overseas Student Visa Breaches

An investigation by the Audit Office has discovered that in March 2010 a backlog of 350,000 non-compliance notices which had been issued concerning international students for breaches of their Visa conditions. Breaches relate to things such as when students fail to start a course, fail to attend classes, or fail to pass subjects. It is fair to say that many of these breaches would be regarded as not very serious. It is also fair to say that by March 2011 that 145,000 of the non-compliance notices had been resolved by departmental staff.

Nevertheless 350,000 breaches of Visa conditions is way too many when we remember that there were 400,000 overseas students living in Australia in 2009-10. It is a matter of real concern that the Auditor-General Ian McPhee found it was “not feasible for the department to actively monitor if all 400,000 students has breached their Visas”, including whether they had worked more than 20 hours a week. This is still more evidence that the doubling of overseas student numbers from 204,000 in June 2002 to 467,000 in June 2009 gave us an overseas student program which got quite out of control. In 2001 the Howard Government changed the rules to allow overseas students to remain in Australia after completing their courses in Australia, rather than requiring them to return to their home country as was previously the case. This turned the focus of the overseas student program from getting an education to getting permanent residence in Australia.

The fact that the Department cannot successfully monitor whether the conditions of student Visas are being adhered to indicates either that the number of student visas is still too high, or that we need to put more money into Departmental monitoring. Either way, the benefits of overseas student programs have been exaggerated, and the costs underestimated. Student visa conditions such as actually undertaking a course, and not working more than 20 hours a week, go to the heart of the purpose and integrity of the student visa program. They must be complied with.

Kelvin Thomson MP

Federal Member for Wills

POPULATION STRATEGY – A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

COMMENTS ON SUSTAINABLE POPULATION STRATEGY

POPULATION STRATEGY – A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

The Government’s population strategy represents a missed opportunity to put Australia’s population on a sustainable basis and curb our rapid population growth.

The failure to set targets means we are still on our way to Big Australia, with net overseas migration tracking at 180,000 per annum, the number Treasury says will see Australia’s population rise to 36 million by 2050.

I remain concerned that the present rate of population growth – a 60% increase in our population over the next 40 years – will put upward pressure on the cost of housing, electricity, water, food, council rates, and upward pressure on interest rates.

The impact of a 60% increase in Australia’s population on our native wildlife will be catastrophic. Then there is the issue of carbon emissions. The government has promised to cut carbon emissions by 60% over the next 40 years. How are we supposed to cut emissions by 60% if our population is rising by 60% at the same time? It’s pretty hard to reduce your carbon footprint when your keep adding more feet.

I am pleased that the strategy acknowledges the challenges faced by our major cities, such as declining housing affordability and increasing traffic congestion.

I hope that all levels of government – federal, state and local – and all political parties – Labor, Liberal and Greens – will acknowledge the reality of life for people living in the big cities, and abandon plans to grow these cities still bigger. If all levels of government now work together to stabilise the populations of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, this strategy will have achieved something worthwhile.

But I continue to be convinced that another 13 million people will not give us a richer country, it will spread our mineral wealth more thinly and give us a poorer one.

Our aim to lift the participation rate and find work for people who are presently on Job Search Allowance or Disability Support Payments would be much more easily realised if we reduced skilled migration to the level of the mid 90s to give us a net overseas migration level of 70,000.

KELVIN THOMSON, MP

Member for Wills

13/5/2011

COMPANY CAR AND DEFENCE CUT BACKS

COMPANY CAR AND DEFENCE CUT BACKS

I welcome reports that the Government intends to introduce a single 20% fringe benefits tax rate for company cars in next Tuesday’s federal budget.

This would mean taxpayers who are given company cars would be in the same position regardless of how many kilometres they drive.

At present cars which are driven more kilometres incur less fringe benefits tax. This is an incentive to drive company cars further, which is not what we want when we’re trying to cut Australia’s carbon emissions.

Changing the Fringe Benefits Tax rules for company cars is something I’ve previously called for on several occasions. It was one of the recommendations of Ken Henry’s review of the tax system.  I’m pleased at these reports which show the Government plans to move to improve the health of both the Budget and the planet.

I also welcome the Defence Minister’s announcement concerning Defence spending cuts. It seems to me that the Howard Government’s 3% real increase every year in Defence expenditure has led to a massive increase in Defence expenditure over time, which has contributed to a culture within Defence which is extravagant, and does not represent the best use of scarce taxpayers’ dollars.

KELVIN THOMSON MP

Member for Wills

Friday 6^th May, 2011

WA LIBERAL GOVERNMENT SQUANDERING RESOURCES BOOM

WA LIBERAL GOVERNMENT SQUANDERING RESOURCES BOOM

Australia’s resources have taken thousands of years to accumulate and are of immense value.  They should not be squandered.

There is no prospect that they will diminish in value in the years ahead, so it seems to me that we do not need to engage in a headlong rush to dig them up and sell them off as fast as possible.  Indeed I think there is a perfectly respectable case for leaving at least some of these resources for our children and grandchildren.

But seeing as we are digging them up and selling them off as fast as possible, we must at least ensure that Australia and Australians are the beneficiaries of this.

I am therefore disappointed to learn, from the Western Australian branch of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union, that WA Premier Barnett not only allowed most of the engineering and fabrication for the Oakajee project to be done in China, but is now allowing major resources companies to send their work offshore too.

The union writes “While there are jobs up north while our major projects are being  built, most local workshops are empty, apprenticeship numbers are falling and unemployment in places like Kwinana is rising.  And, if our engineers want to help design our major projects, they have to move overseas, leaving our young engineers without senior people to learn from.

Colin Barnett talks a lot about how much our major resources companies are spending in WA, but he is very quiet about how much of this is being spent on creating skilled jobs and apprenticeships for locals.

The legacy from this new resources boom should be a highly trained and highly skilled workforce that can provide engineering and fabrication services to resources projects around the world and work together to create future industries and new jobs here in WA.”

The AMWU has a campaign slogan to go with their concerns – WA jobs from WA Resources. What Can Be Made Here, Should Be Made Here.

The resources boom presents a once in a lifetime opportunity. The WA Government has no business wasting it.

KELVIN THOMSON MP

Member for Wills

Friday 6^th May, 2011

RAPID WORLD POPULATION GROWTH WORRIES UN

RAPID WORLD POPULATION GROWTH WORRIES UN

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has released population projections for the year 2100.

They say the world’s population is likely to grow to 10.1 billion by the end of this century.  Much of this increase is likely to come from high-fertility countries, which comprise 39 countries in Africa, nine in Asia, six in Oceania and four in Latin America.

When we bear in mind the fact that it took us the whole of human history until 1900 to reach 1.6 billion people, and we are now likely to reach 10.1 billion by the end of the century, little wonder the UN describes current growth rates as too high.

The director of the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Hania Zlotnik, says a 10 billion population has “serious implications” for the ability to provide food, water, energy, education and employment for millions of people in the poorest nations.  Absolutely right, to say nothing of the consequences of poverty and conflict over access to scarce resources – war, terrorism and millions of refugees.

KELVIN THOMSON MP

Member for Wills

Thursday 5^th May, 2011

DON’T DUMP ON AUSTRALIA

DON’T DUMP ON AUSTRALIA

The Australian Workers Union has launched a campaign to raise worker and community awareness about the damage illegal dumping is doing to Australia’s manufacturing industry.

The AWU says there has been dumping of a wide range of “finished” goods competing with Australian producers.  It says products like solar panels, rail track, wind towers, mining infrastructure equipment, steel frames etc are being produced overseas, primarily by China, and dumped on the Australian market.

The AWU has resolved to call on the Federal Government to establish an independent commission to investigate dumping allegations and legislate to enable affected groups and unions to ask for investigations to be undertaken by this body.

The union says that the US and Canada have more transparent laws and regulations on dumping, making it more likely that free trade will improve our living standards rather than lower them.

I support the AWU campaign. I believe national self- sufficiency is important, and I want Australia to continue to have a vibrant manufacturing industry. It is therefore important that our “level playing fields” are genuinely level.

KELVIN THOMSON MP

Member for Wills

Thursday 5^th May, 2011