Good evening everyone.

I acknowledge that we are on Gadigal land and I pay my respects to Elders past and present and extend those respects to any First Nations people here today.

Thanks to the Sydney Institute, and Executive Director Gerard Henderson, for the kind invitation to speak here this evening.

The Sydney Institute has contributed so much over the past 35 years to Australia’s national conversation on the key issues that we face as a country.

So it’s a great honour to be here to discuss one of the most important issues that has shaped modern Australia, and will continue to do so — ensuring that every Australian benefits from migration.

“Populate or perish”.

This was the catchcry of Australia’s post World War II migration program.

The war had accentuated Australia’s small population and defence vulnerability.

Our economic development had stalled with labour shortages restraining investment in new industries.

With waves of displaced people throughout Europe, the Chifley Government saw the opportunity to develop a plan to grow Australia’s population by offering resettlement and employment in the land down under.

His government established the Department of Immigration to manage the resettlement of new migrants, equivalent to about 1% of the population per year.

The “new Australians”, as Arthur Caldwell named them, came mainly from Europe with not much more than the clothes on their back and a few English words.

Almost all of them would go on to become Australian and remain so until their passing.

In total, about 4.2 million people arrived between 1945 and 1985 when the program was ended officially.

The migrants brought their language and customs, their food, their sports and arts, and most importantly they brought their skills and their labour.

This pool of workers triggered a wave of government and private investment in infrastructure and industry that built the modern Australian economy, sustaining decades of improvements in Australians living standards.

Migration played a key role in providing the labour and capacity for Australia to undertake major infrastructure projects such as the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme.

In August 1949, the Snowy Scheme – one of the largest and most ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Australia – commenced construction, employing thousands of newly arrived migrants.

The scheme took 25 years to complete and employed more than 100,000 men and women from 30 different countries.

All Australians benefited from such economic development.

In the two decades after the program began, the average Australian’s income had grown by 327% based on weekly earnings estimates.

Our economy underwent a post war boom that lasted till the early 1980s.

That growth was largely driven by the rapid increase in population and the transition to manufacturing production.

Without a doubt, the post war migration program was a winner for Australia and Australians.

And I believe it’s fair to say that most Australians would see it that way as well.

Yet it’s also true that since the 1980s, many Australians have not had the same fondness for migration.

Australia’s leaders post-Chifley, including Menzies, Fraser, Whitlam and Hawke, all publicly supported an active migration program and spoke positively of the economic benefits it delivered.

The bipartisanship for migration post war has evaporated in the 1990’s as some civic leaders sought to stoke fear and division regarding migration rather than seeing it as a net positive for our nation.

As a result, governments have been reluctant to put in place a strategy for migration so we can plan for the levels of migration required for our nation and the supports to settle new arrivals, so they make a productive contribution to our economy.

For many decades Australia has not had a migration strategy.

As a result, Australia’s migration policies have lacked direction and purpose.

Migration has been unresponsive to Australia’s needs; it has provided marginal economic benefit and has not enhanced labour productivity.

It has been concentrated on capital cities, creating some social tension and skills shortages have persisted despite steady flows of new arrivals within needed skills and competencies.

The reliance on labour migration to solve our skills gaps led to under investment in vocational education with commensurate falls in apprentices and trainees in key sectors, particularly services, which are vital to our standard of living with an ageing population.

For the last decade it appears that immigration was not benefitting Australians as it had in the past.

To investigate why this had occurred, the Albanese Government asked Dr Matin Parkinson to conduct a wholesale review of Australia’s migration system.

The Parkinson Review found that our previous migration system was “broken”.

Regarding migration, Dr Parkinson said:

The objectives of the program are unclear, and successive governments and policymakers have responded to challenges through piecemeal reforms which have not addressed fundamental underlying issues.

We are determined to fix our migration system and ensure it works to benefit all Australians again.

That includes fixing an overwhelming visa backlog, shortcomings in international education, and widespread visa system abuses.

Using the recommendations of the Parkinson Review, the government has developed a migration strategy that includes a clear vision for migration in Australia and a clear set of objectives to achieve that goal.

These are:

1. Raising living standards by boosting productivity, meeting skills shortages and supporting exports
2. Ensuring a fair go in the workplace by complementing the jobs, wages and conditions of domestic workers and preventing migrant worker exploitation
3. Building stronger communities by better planning for sustainable migration, and giving migrants the opportunity to invest in their lives in Australia through permanent residence and citizenship
4. Strengthening international relationships by building stronger economic and social connections with our regional neighbours and international partners
5. Making the system work by being fast, efficient and fair for migrants and employers.

Under each one of these objectives there are key actions the government is taking to implement these goals to ensure the migration system delivers a net benefit to Australia.

To promote economic growth and productivity we must ensure Australian businesses can invest in additional production and capacity to deliver goods and services.

For too long, labour shortages have been a handbrake on growth with businesses unable to grow due to the unavailability of the skills and labour needed to drive the growth.

Under the previous Coalition Government, migrant labour grew but there was no plan regarding location and types of skills required, very little industry input to decision making and assessment of skills needed.

The result was a lack of labour in key industries, persistent shortages in regional areas, and an under investment in vocational training that has made the problem worse. All were acutely exacerbated by COVID.

The Albanese Labor Government has developed a plan to fix this skills shortage over the next decade.

The priority for skills development must be to train more Australians in the industries where skills are needed into the future.

The national economies that will thrive in the future will be those that have the skill base to support investment in innovation and emerging technology such as artificial intelligence and a net zero economy.

To meet this challenge investment in education and vocational training must be the priority, and it is for our government.

To facilitate this, we have invested an additional $2.5 billion in vocational and tertiary training through policies such as Fee-Free TAFE, funding 1400 additional university places in STEM based courses and introducing a practical placement payment of $319.50 per week for students required to take on practical placements as part of their course.

Importantly, we are planning the skills needs of the future through the creation of Jobs and Skills Australia - a tripartite body through which industry, unions and government work together to plan the skills requirements of the future so government policy is responsive to industry need to provide a springboard for growth into the future.

Whilst training more Australians to acquire the skills needed in the future, we will also require a level of migrant labour to ensure full economic potential for industry.

For too long, the skilled migration system has been cumbersome and unresponsive to the needs of employers.

We are reforming the temporary and permanent skilled migration pathways to ensure employers get the skilled workers they need as quickly as possible.

This will be achieved through a new Skills in Demand visa with three targeted pathways - a new specialist skills pathway to attract highly skilled workers, a core skills pathway with simpler, regularly updated occupation lists, and new visa settings that give migrant workers more mobility in the labour market.

In the permanent skilled pathway, we are consulting regarding reforming the points test to better identify migrants who will drive long term prosperity.

A big focus of our government is reforming regional migration settings to ensure regional employers get the workers they need as quickly as possible.

To achieve this, we have designated regional visa processing as the highest priority, and we are evaluating the Working Holiday Maker program to ensure it supports development objectives in regional Australia and does not contribute to exploitation of migrant workers.

Our government is restoring integrity to our immigration system through several important reforms.

We are implementing caps on international student numbers and encouraging international students to study at regional universities and vocational training institutions.

This will ensure we strengthen our international education reputation and maintain the delivery of quality tertiary education outcomes. It will also allow for proper planning for student housing to ultimately take pressure off the rental market.

We are also tackling exploitation of visa holders and misuse of the system by allowing mobility between employers for migrants who experience exploitation at work.

The Parkinson Review found that there were too many – 1.8 million – temporary migrants living in Australia.

Too many of them faced complex and lengthy pathways to permanent residence.

The government agreed that it was not in Australia’s national interest to maintain a large proportion of temporary entrants with no pathway to citizenship.

The review said that we need a long-term horizon that supports stable and predictable population growth and allows more effective planning of infrastructure, housing and services to meet the needs of all Australian residents.

So, we're also cracking down on visa hopping through which temporary visa holders seek to manipulate the system by hopping from one visa to another over long periods.

We are also working with the states and territories to simplify the skilled visa points test and we have reformed the graduate visa system.

Our immigration system should also ensure that we strengthen ties with our neighbours within our region, particularly the Pacific.

To achieve this, we have reformed the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, and we are delivering a new Pacific engagement visa to encourage more mobility from our region.

We will also ensure our migration system is responsive to our nations needs in the future by working with the states and territories to plan migration over a longer timeframe and ensuring population planning is based on the best available population forecasts and data.

We will also be conducting regular reviews of regional skilled migration settings to ensure the regions are at the forefront of migration planning.

Our new Migration Strategy is bringing migration back to sustainable levels, ensuring we have the skills we need for the future and, ultimately, making sure the system is working in the interests of all Australians.

Australia once again has a coherent plan for migration.

It’s a plan that’s based on the best available demographic and economic data.

It’s a plan that responds to the needs of industry to ensure employers have the skilled workers they need to grow their businesses.

It’s a plan that builds integration by new arrivals into Australian society to promote social cohesion.

It’s a plan that reduces manipulation of the system and exploitation of people.

And most importantly, it’s a plan that will deliver economic and social benefits for all Australians.

Our mission is clear: to build a migration system that earns the trust and confidence of our citizens and secures a safe and prosperous future for every Australian.

And we understand the challenges of our demographics and an ageing population.

Our migration system should never be a substitute for upskilling local workers, but a well-targeted migration system can help better connect skilled migrants to Australia’s skills needs.

This will contribute to productivity growth.

Productivity growth is the key driver of real wage growth and rising living standards over the long term, so getting these settings right can make a real difference to the lives of all Australians.

When Australians are asked to name the most important national building infrastructure from our history, nine times out of ten the Snowy Mountains Scheme will feature.

It was an ambitious project that Australians justifiably have pride in.

It’s a project that was predominantly built by migrants from the other end of the earth who settled here and made Australian their home.

They helped enrich our culture and expand our horizons, but most importantly they modernised our economy and provided the foundation for several decades of economic growth.

As we enter the innovation age migration will play a key role in delivering the skills necessary to provide a competitive edge for our economy in the global contest for investment.

We now have a plan to ensure migration supports that investment and delivers benefits for all Australians.

Thank you.

ENDS