​​​CEDA Migration forum keynote, Fullerton Hotel, Sydney

Good morning all. It is an absolute pleasure to be back here with you. I thank CEO Melinda Cilento and the whole team of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia for this kind invitation.

Firstly, I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, Traditional Custodians of the land on which this conference is taking place today. I also acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands wherever people are watching this event online. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and I pay my respects to any First Nations people taking part.

More than six million people have chosen to become Australians since citizenship was introduced into law in 1949.

A dramatically different picture of our country has emerged over these decades. A country in many ways built by migration.

Today, more than half of Australian residents (51.5%) have either been born overseas or have at least one parent born overseas.

A wide range of languages are spoken in Australian homes and Australians practice a variety of faiths.

Recognising this is important, as is the way Governments have supported the journey of settlement, the process of recent migrants becoming Australians – not remaining as guest workers.

Through this, through programs like the AMEP and a focus on settlement, Australia has become one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world, and I believe, the most successful multicultural society – I’ll return to this later in my remarks.

Much has happened in the 12 months since I last addressed this forum. Something I had a decent hunch about has been confirmed: Good administration – the ability to provide certainty – is at the heart of a well-functioning, and reform-minded immigration system.

Unfortunately our visa system was not well-functioning for some time. The former Liberal government deprioritised and devalued the administration of immigration.

You cannot reform your way out of a dysfunctional visa system. Addressing the delays and uncertainty we inherited was a condition to secure a migration system that is fit for purpose.

With this in mind, the Albanese Government has added hundreds of additional staff to support the visa system. This has reduced the number of visa applications waiting to be processed and slashed waiting times.

The number of temporary visa applications waiting to be assessed has reduced by about 70 per cent.

Visa applications for teachers and nurses are being turned around in a matter of days – whereas it previously took over seven weeks.

Overall, the median processing time for Temporary Skills Shortage applications — down from 50 days to just 11.

Under the current Ministerial Direction on visa processing, visa applications in healthcare or teaching are given the highest priority. In 2022-23, this saw large increases in permanent skilled visas for sectors in critical shortage:

• 3,572 places were delivered in teaching occupations, an increase from 548 the year before.
• 17,061 places were also delivered in healthcare occupations, an increase from 8,195 the year before.

These are critical priorities of the Albanese Government. The education of our children and a stronger health system.

The Government has also taken a number of steps to change policy ahead of the Migration Strategy.

We have increased the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold, or TSMIT. After almost a decade of deliberately holding down the wage threshold at $53,900, the Government increased the TSMIT to $70,000 in July this year. I make no apology for doing everything I can to promote wage growth.

Last week I signed new Regulations which will be in effect later this week to end the restrictions on pathways to residency for temporary skilled visa workers.

Restricting access to residency for people who have been sponsored for the purpose of skilled work runs completely counter to so much of what makes Australian society tick. A sense of fairness.

We have progressed a substantial package of measures to address the exploitation of migrant workers. Unfortunately there is structural exploitation of vulnerable workers in this country, and far too often those workers hold a temporary visa.

We have provided more resources to enforcement, ensuring employers who do the wrong thing and mistreat workers in a vulnerable position are found, and sanctioned. We cannot have a race to the bottom on wages and conditions.

There is legislation currently in the Senate to create criminal penalties for exploitative behaviour and new enforcement tools to send a message to those employers who flout the law.

We have sought to promote permanent residency and address the growing number of those ‘permanently temporary’ in Australia.

The time taken to assess citizenship applications have halved, and for the first time in over six years there are fewer than 100,000 applications in the system. The visa system is more efficient and delivering more certainty than it has in a long time.

The Albanese Government has created a direct pathway to citizenship for New Zealand citizens, instead of leaving them in limbo for decades. Already over 20,000 New Zealanders have sought Australian citizenship since July.

These changes matter. They affect lives each and every day, and in so doing shape our community.

I want to dwell a little bit on a specific change we have progressed. CEDA have made a genuine contribution to the public debate on aged care. I don’t agree with each and every recommendation which has been put forward however the fact CEDA has stumped up and thought though a complex policy area is welcome.

As some in this room may know, the Minister for Aged Care and I announced in May a new approach for how aged care providers can sponsor overseas workers.

The Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement is a tripartite approach, with streamlined access provided for aged care providers that enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a relevant union.

This process has been carefully designed. The labour agreement ensures sponsored overseas workers are able to receive information from a union in the first seven days after they begin work. There is also a formal consultation mechanism for providers and unions to engage.

After six months, there are 21 labour agreements in effect and a further four waiting a decision from the Department of Home Affairs.

These agreements provide for up to 9,000 visas over the next five years. While it is unlikely all of those positions will be used, this creates certainty for these providers.

This is not a “silver bullet”. As the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, I understand higher wages are the primary way to address shortages where demand for aged care services outstrips the workforce.

That’s why the Albanese Government invested $11 billion to support the recent Fair Work Commission decision to substantially increase wages in the sector.

I understand there will be people here who are concerned about this approach. Who oppose a tripartite process, who see it as clunky, or unnecessary.

I don’t. I see it as central to how we can further address workforce needs in a considered and appropriate manner.

A tripartite approach may not always look exactly like this. But the principle of business and unions and government, working together, ensures we are better placed than the alternatives.

I’d also like to say a few words about Net Overseas Migration.

Simply put, NOM is a demographic measure: it’s the difference between the gain – those arriving – and loss – those leaving – to the population through immigration and emigration.

To be counted, you need to be in Australia for 12 of the previous 16 months. So tourists coming for a quick visit and Australians going overseas for a break do not change Net Overseas Migration.

And it does not just include people who hold a visa but Australian citizens who come and go.

The recent high net overseas migration figures reflect a rebound from the years of COVID-related border restrictions. At its lowest point, we had a net loss of 85,000; the first since World War II.

The rebound from those historically low numbers include some migrants coming to Australia now, who would otherwise have come here to study or work when the border was closed.

For example, we had multiple groups of international students (that is first, second, and third year students) arriving at the same time for the start of the 2023 academic year.

There will be an update to the net overseas migration forecasts as is standard before the end of the year.

We have taken a series of measures that will place downward pressure on the rate of net overseas migration:

• Ending COVID concessions
• Re-capping the number of hours international students can work
• Restricting and ceasing the Pandemic Event Visa

We have also taken a series of actions on promoting integrity measures.

Key among the accepted recommendations of the Nixon Review was addressing the protection visa framework.

We have begun to address the integrity of the asylum framework. During almost a decade of neglect, under-investment and mismanagement by the former government, backlogs were allowed to grow exponentially.

This happened across the entire migration system however delays in processing and reviewing onshore Protection visa applications, in particular, blew out. 

It is crucial that Australia’s asylum framework functions effectively to provide certainty to those in need.

We have recently invested over $160 million to improve protection visa assessments and increase capacity at the AAT and in the courts to hear these matters.

We’re also implementing reforms to strengthen the integrity of the international education sector from those who might attempt to game the system or exploit students.

These changes include strengthening aspects of the relevant Education Act to deter collusive business activities, agent performance benchmarks, and banning agent commissions for onshore transfers.

Most students come to Australia for legitimate reasons. To study. Our international education sector is so important for Australians.

At the same time, we can balance the promotion of this critical industry with the right process for visa applications.

We’ve taken substantial steps to advance these objectives including:

• Closing down a loophole allowing education providers to use “concurrent enrolment” to shift some international students from genuine study to an arrangement designed to facilitate access to work in Australia
• Increasing the amount of savings needed to get a visa, reflecting higher living expenses
• Applying higher scrutiny to reduce fraud in visa applications; and
• Announcing the Government will consider using powers under the Education Services for Overseas Students Act (ESOS Act) to prevent high-risk education providers from being able to recruit international students.

After almost a decade of neglect, these measures will improve the integrity of our visa system.

I know many of you are keen to see the release of the Government’s Migration Strategy. This will be released shortly.

Reshaping our migration system and how we compete in the global race for skilled workers is going to become increasingly critical to our future prosperity.

The Parkinson Review was the first comprehensive review of the migration system in a generation.

The Review itself is a good, extensive piece of work. And it points to a number of really important areas of reform.

For too long, there has been a lack of clarity in what we are trying to achieve. As announced by Minister O’Neil earlier this year, five core objectives will underpin our recalibrated migration system. We will be:

• Building Australia’s prosperity by lifting productivity, meeting workforce needs, and supporting exports;
• Enabling a fair labour market, including by complementing the jobs, wages and conditions of Australian workers;
• Building a community of Australians;
• Protecting Australia’s interests in the world; and
• Providing a fast, efficient and fair system.

There will clearly be much more to say when the Migration Strategy is released but these objectives will be central to everything we do, as witnessed by some of the changes we have already made.

Higher wages, expansive access to citizenship, and an efficient visa system.

I want to finish by speaking about multiculturalism – in my view, the greatest achievement of modern Australia.

Indeed, too often, we fail to clearly state how important it is.

Our diversity is our greatest strength – socially, culturally and economically – but it cannot be taken for granted. It must not.

We are part of the fastest growing region in human history, and our diaspora communities carry strong connections everywhere across it. This is an advantage that cannot be squandered.

Last week, the Scanlon Foundation laid out a challenging set of circumstances regarding social cohesion.

And each day, our social cohesion is affected by the impacts on Australians of the Israel-Hama conflict and daily images from Gaza.

Political leadership demands we respond.

Standing against the voices of hate and division is the right thing to do.

Because in challenging times Australians stick together to help each get through.

Because racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia hurt us all – because there is no place for hate in our society. And because our national interest demands it too.

This is why recent comments by the former Prime Minister, John Howard, were so appalling. He has ‘always had trouble with multiculturalism’.

I was unsurprised to hear these comments. John Howard called for a ‘slow-down’ in Asian migration as Opposition Leader in the late 1980s.

His own colleague, Philip Ruddock, crossed the floor of the Parliament to vote with the Hawke Government to reaffirm a non-discriminatory approach to Australian migration. 

John Howard deprioritised institutional frameworks to support our multicultural society. The Howard Government’s first Budget systematically eliminated funding to anything related to multiculturalism. 

And we saw this again last week, when the Opposition Leader weaponised antisemitism for his own political interests, over the national interest.

He has a history of seeking division and promoting discord.

Malcolm Turnbull knew this when he became Prime Minister and chose not to appoint him to his National Security Committee.

The Opposition Leader has singled out ethnic communities using incendiary remarks on multiple occasions.

For years, he supported the abolition of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

He failed to support anti-vilification provisions in the proposed Bill to address religious discrimination.

This is a history – up until and including last week – of damaging and destructive contribution to the public debate, to our shared sense of social cohesion.

An inability to say or do anything positive.

Our conversation about social cohesion and Australian multiculturalism needs to be better than this.

That’s why I look forward to receiving the Multicultural Framework Review in 2024.

I commissioned this review earlier this year to explore what more we can do, working together.

For the first time, submissions were invited in any language, with over 650 received – and more than 120 of those were in languages other than English.

We are showing that with a little bit more effort, government can engage with our multicultural community in a respectful, thorough manner.

Thank you again for having me and I look forward to our questions together.