Keep the skilled migrants coming

By Graham Cooke

Bob Brown is one of the most energetic members of the Australian Parliament.

Whenever there is an issue, there's the Greens Senate Leader, whether its whaling, logging, political advertising, anti-corruption, or the possibility of eucalyptus pathogens in Tasmania's water supply, there you'll find Bob.

It's a wonder that the leader of the party supposedly most friendly to the environment doesn't pause occasionally to count the trees he is killing as newsrooms throughout the country print the media releases he churns out.

There are other members of the Greens Party in the Senate but they are practically invisible. Brown dominates proceedings, speaks in all the debates, asks all the questions. He seems to have an opinion on everything.

But on one issue at least, he is totally wrong.

Brown recently tried to move a motion calling on the Government to establish an independent national inquiry into Australia's population in 2050, claiming that this country cannot support the projected figure of 35 million people by the middle of the century.

Up to now this is good Greens territory, but he went further, saying that Australia should slash skilled migration and instead increase the number of humanitarian refugees.

He claims migrants with skills should put them at the service of their own countries rather than bringing them to Australia.

Then of course the populist sop: Invest more money in training Australians for the skilled vacancies.

Governments of both persuasions have been busting a gut trying to get Australians into training. When I was national media adviser to the Housing Industry Association every second media release I wrote was on the subject of encouraging Australians to get into trades. So far its success has been limited.

And it's not only on the construction sites and down the mines that Australians come up short - doctors, nurses, other health professionals also have yawning vacancies in their ranks. Prime Minister Rudd would not have a health system to reform if the legions of overseas workers had not been allowed to come here.

Australia needs skilled migration. If it were stifled our economy would falter, demand-push inflation would accelerate, and we would all be a great deal worse off than we are today.

By all means have a sensible, managed immigration system. By all means take in more refugees. The number coming to Australia, legally or by boat, is still tiny compared with those in Europe and the United States.

But to suggest would-be migrants should be denied because they have a skill that Australia actually needs is Alice in Wonderland politics.

Bob Brown should stop trying to take his party down the road to some kind of socialist utopia the socialists gave up on decades ago. Logging and whaling are far safer subjects for him.