Latest / The Morning Edition / One Nation has revealed its migration policy

Transcript

One Nation has revealed its migration policy · The Morning Edition

• 0:07
  S1: Pauline Hanson has finally announced her party's migration policy. This,
• 0:12
  S1: after weeks in which multiple One Nation MPs publicly contradicted
• 0:16
  S1: each other on the plan. I'm Samantha Salinger Morris, and
• 0:20
  S1: you're listening to The Morning Edition from The Age and
• 0:23
  S1: The Sydney Morning Herald. Today, federal political reporter Brittany Bush,
• 0:28
  S1: on which visa holders Pauline Hanson has in her sights
• 0:32
  S1: and whether her plan could risk our prosperity. Welcome, Brittany,
• 0:41
  S1: to the podcast.
• 0:42
  S2: Thanks, Sam.
• 0:43
  S1: So tell us, what did Pauline Hanson announce on Monday
• 0:46
  S1: about One Nation's migration policy?
• 0:49
  S2: So Pauline Hanson has announced that One Nation wants to
• 0:53
  S2: slash temporary visa holders by 750,000 over three years.
• 0:59
  S3: Well, another week, another One Nation policy push. It's becoming
• 1:02
  S3: quite the trend here in Parliament House, with.
• 1:04
  S4: A radical overhaul of Australia's visa system by pushing for
• 1:08
  S4: net negative migration for three years.
• 1:11
  S5: We will take back control of who comes here and
• 1:14
  S5: how many. We accept migration must serve Australia, not crush
• 1:20
  S5: our housing, hospitals, infrastructure and wages.
• 1:25
  S2: So under the plan, international students and graduates would be
• 1:28
  S2: the primary target with a cap of 135,000 visas per
• 1:33
  S2: year across both categories. The party wants to return the
• 1:36
  S2: temporary migrant population to 2017 levels and the international student
• 1:41
  S2: population to 2015 levels. That would push Australia's migration into
• 1:47
  S2: net negative numbers, which means that more people were leaving
• 1:52
  S2: the country than arriving. After the three years, one nation
• 1:56
  S2: would want to introduce a migration ceiling of 130 000
• 2:00
  S2: net overseas migration.
• 2:03
  S6: And so what are.
• 2:04
  S1: The most controversial parts of the party's policy. Because we
• 2:07
  S1: know we know, for instance, that this this policy has
• 2:10
  S1: already been slammed by farmers, right. Who who are thinking
• 2:13
  S1: that they will be starved of workers, perhaps. Is that right?
• 2:17
  S2: Yes. So Pauline Hanson has promised that some categories of
• 2:21
  S2: temporary visas won't be targeted in this crackdown, including palm workers,
• 2:27
  S2: which are temporary workers and working holiday makers. But the
• 2:33
  S2: industries supported by those migrants are still sounding the alarm.
• 2:37
  S2: And Labour MPs have argued that One Nation won't be
• 2:41
  S2: able to achieve its targets without cutting more broadly outside
• 2:46
  S2: of international students. International students would cop the brunt of
• 2:51
  S2: the cuts, and families of skilled migrants would be barred
• 2:55
  S2: from joining their families.
• 2:57
  S6: And so tell me, beyond.
• 2:58
  S1: Farmers, particularly in regional areas, who I think are sounding
• 3:01
  S1: the alarm that they'll be hit by this, that they
• 3:03
  S1: won't have enough workers essentially to choose from. Are there
• 3:06
  S1: other industries as well that have seen this proposal and
• 3:09
  S1: are starting to, if not panic, to to push back
• 3:12
  S1: against these proposed cuts?
• 3:15
  S2: We know that health care, for example, an inquiry into
• 3:20
  S2: skilled migration last week heard that doctors, for example, coming
• 3:24
  S2: from overseas were being poached by other countries that have
• 3:28
  S2: more streamlined application processes. They can wait years to get
• 3:34
  S2: a position, even in the regions in Australia.
• 3:37
  S1: And so I guess tell us first off, what labor
• 3:40
  S1: has said in response.
• 3:41
  S2: So Environment Minister Murray Watt was out warning that one
• 3:45
  S2: nation's plan would destroy regional economies and drive Australia into
• 3:49
  S2: a recession.
• 3:50
  S7: We've obviously been working through the detail of this, unlike
• 3:53
  S7: one nation who've put out this policy today, that would
• 3:56
  S7: clearly just destroy regional economies and probably drive the Australian
• 4:01
  S7: economy into a recession.
• 4:03
  S2: He warned that willy nilly slashing of numbers would exacerbate
• 4:07
  S2: Australia's existing labour shortages in critical sectors such as healthcare
• 4:11
  S2: and construction. He likened One Nation's policy to a magic pudding.
• 4:17
  S7: Is like a magic pudding. They think that they can
• 4:18
  S7: cut the numbers by hundreds of thousands, but they can
• 4:21
  S7: still have this and they can still have that. It
• 4:23
  S7: doesn't work that way. If you're going to cut numbers,
• 4:25
  S7: they've got to come from somewhere.
• 4:27
  S2: Suggesting that the minor party wants to be able to
• 4:30
  S2: have sweeping cuts but still retain different visa classes, and
• 4:35
  S2: suggested that that wasn't going to be possible.
• 4:38
  S1: Okay, so that's a big claim there by Environment Minister
• 4:41
  S1: Murray Watt, that One Nation's plan will drive our economy
• 4:45
  S1: into a recession and destroy regional economies. So is there
• 4:49
  S1: any accuracy to this? Is this going to be the case?
• 4:54
  S2: We don't really know at this point what the impact
• 4:57
  S2: is going to be. One nation has pointed to a
• 5:01
  S2: similar move from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to crack
• 5:06
  S2: down on visa arrivals, but obviously That's a different country.
• 5:12
  S2: So the situation isn't exactly replicated in Australia.
• 5:16
  S1: Okay. So do we even know how much this policy
• 5:19
  S1: would cost the Australian economy? Because that's one of the
• 5:22
  S1: biggest concerns with this policy. Is that right?
• 5:25
  S2: Yeah that's right. We don't know. On Monday, the minor
• 5:29
  S2: parties Treasury spokesman Barnaby Joyce avoided questions around what the
• 5:34
  S2: cost to the economy or the budget would be.
• 5:37
  S8: There's got to be a cost to the economy and
• 5:39
  S8: a cost to the budget.
• 5:40
  S9: Well, the cost of the economy at the moment is
• 5:43
  S9: at per capita. We're we're stalling or going backwards. So,
• 5:48
  S9: you know, this idea.
• 5:49
  S2: We know that international higher education is one of Australia's
• 5:54
  S2: biggest exports and is worth more than $53 billion to
• 5:59
  S2: the economy per year. But we don't have any detail
• 6:03
  S2: on how this policy might impact that.
• 6:06
  S9: I would suggest that we have to focus more on
• 6:08
  S9: the individual circumstances, and the macro will will start to
• 6:14
  S9: take care of themselves. And of course, we have no
• 6:17
  S9: other policy to compare it against because the coalition.
• 6:23
  S1: We'll be right back. But, Brittany, are there any merits
• 6:29
  S1: to this plan? Because obviously this is something that the
• 6:32
  S1: government too, has been struggling with. Right. To reduce net
• 6:34
  S1: overseas migration. So yeah. Are there merits to this One
• 6:38
  S1: Nation policy?
• 6:39
  S2: Both labor and the coalition have acknowledged that they want
• 6:43
  S2: to bring migration down. Labor argues that it has almost
• 6:48
  S2: halved net overseas migration since the post pandemic peak, when
• 6:54
  S2: people returned to Australia following the lockdowns. We can see
• 7:00
  S2: the difficulties in legislating in this area by the delay
• 7:04
  S2: of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's address to the National
• 7:08
  S2: Press Club, which was supposed to happen at the start
• 7:10
  S2: of last month. That still hasn't been rescheduled. Labour has
• 7:15
  S2: consistently failed to hit the net overseas migration numbers that
• 7:19
  S2: are forecast in the budget. So in the May budget,
• 7:23
  S2: updated forecasts showed that 35,000 more migrants are expected to
• 7:28
  S2: stay in the country this financial year. Net overseas migration
• 7:32
  S2: sits at roughly 300 000, and Labour is working towards
• 7:38
  S2: a target of 225,000 by the 2728 financial year, as
• 7:43
  S2: forecast in the May budget.
• 7:45
  S1: And we know that the coalition has been absolutely bleeding
• 7:48
  S1: voters to one nation. So they are, of course, in battle.
• 7:51
  S1: But the coalition has also come out strongly against this
• 7:54
  S1: One Nation policy, right?
• 7:57
  S2: Yes. So Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said that One Nation's
• 8:00
  S2: policy was half baked when he was asked about whether
• 8:04
  S2: he was concerned that the minor party was again leading
• 8:08
  S2: the agenda with a policy announcement. Angus Taylor says that
• 8:12
  S2: the coalition is doing the work behind the scenes to
• 8:15
  S2: ensure that it can deliver on its policy, which is
• 8:19
  S2: to limit migration in line with housing supply. So on
• 8:23
  S2: current numbers, that's roughly around 170 000.
• 8:27
  S1: And so we know that Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume, she
• 8:31
  S1: also came out swinging. She was interviewed on ABC Radio
• 8:34
  S1: National on Monday morning saying that this One Nation policy,
• 8:37
  S1: it was simply headline numbers without any detail.
• 8:40
  S10: Without any detail of the modelling that's underneath it. Because
• 8:43
  S10: we know that if you get your migration program wrong,
• 8:46
  S10: well then all Australians will pay a price. And even
• 8:50
  S10: already today.
• 8:52
  S1: When all is said and done, given the lack of
• 8:54
  S1: detail in this policy, is this a serious policy, do
• 8:58
  S1: you think, by one nation, or is it just a
• 9:00
  S1: means for One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, to deflect from
• 9:04
  S1: the really quite heavy attacks that have landed against her
• 9:07
  S1: recently from both the prime minister, Anthony Albanese and Andrew Hastie?
• 9:12
  S1: She's made attacks against them and their families and they've
• 9:16
  S1: hit back. So is this just deflecting against this or
• 9:19
  S1: or is this actually a serious policy? Do you think.
• 9:22
  S2: Migration is one nation's keystone issue? And this is more
• 9:26
  S2: detail than we have seen thus far. We've had weeks
• 9:30
  S2: of confusion over the minor parties policy, with MPs contradicting
• 9:36
  S2: each other publicly. Pauline Hanson seemed to have used different
• 9:41
  S2: metrics for how to measure migration interchangeably. While Pauline Hanson
• 9:46
  S2: hasn't appeared before media yesterday morning, she last week didn't
• 9:51
  S2: take a backward step in her attacks on Andrew Hastie.
• 9:55
  S2: She has quietly unpinned the cartoon that labels him a
• 10:00
  S2: traitor from the top of her X account, but she
• 10:02
  S2: hasn't taken it down and refused to do so.
• 10:05
  S1: And we know that the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has
• 10:08
  S1: hit out at Pauline Hanson because she criticised the Prime
• 10:12
  S1: Minister's late mother, Mary Ann Ellery, for living in public
• 10:15
  S1: housing for decades, though she was afflicted with various physical
• 10:20
  S1: problems for for many, many years, and that seemed to
• 10:23
  S1: land as well. So perhaps her popularity is going to
• 10:26
  S1: take a hit. And it's just it's just curious timing.
• 10:28
  S1: I think looking at it from from a distance.
• 10:32
  S2: Well, One Nation has developed a strategy of dropping policy
• 10:38
  S2: suggestions at the start of a week and to set
• 10:41
  S2: the agenda. We saw that happen with their proposal to
• 10:45
  S2: cut the tobacco excise by 75%. And Pauline Hanson hasn't
• 10:51
  S2: really taken much of a backward step in her attacks
• 10:55
  S2: on Andrew Hastie or the Prime Minister's mother. So it
• 10:59
  S2: might just be that this is how we see policy
• 11:01
  S2: announcements being made from now on.
• 11:04
  S1: Well, thank you so much, Brittany, for your time.
• 11:07
  S2: Thank you.
• 11:14
  S1: In other news, today, two thirds of Australians want Australia's
• 11:17
  S1: refugee intake slashed. More money and resources spent on deportations
• 11:23
  S1: and a ban on immigrants coming from countries where extremism
• 11:26
  S1: is a risk, according to the latest Resolve Political Monitor poll.
• 11:31
  S1: And breakfast cereals and bread have been given a reprieve
• 11:35
  S1: by nutritionists, who have admitted that some ultra processed foods
• 11:38
  S1: are not that bad for health after all. This, after
• 11:42
  S1: Harvard University has found that the nutritional quality of food
• 11:45
  S1: is far more important than the processing level when it
• 11:48
  S1: comes to long term health. You can read more at
• 11:52
  S1: the age.com.au or smh.com.au. Today's episode was produced by Kai Wong.
• 12:01
  S1: Our executive producer is Tammy Mills, and our podcasts are
• 12:05
  S1: overseen by Lisa Muxworthy and Tom McKendrick. If you like
• 12:09
  S1: our show, follow The Morning Edition and leave a review
• 12:11
  S1: for us on Apple or Spotify. Thanks for listening.