Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The political debate in Australia has become more and more heated, particularly around discussions on immigration. Our immigration system must work to strengthen Australia, keeping us safe and helping us prosper. We should have a mature discussion about it, but it must be done with honesty, nuance, compassion and facts.

Post COVID, when the borders reopened, we did see an influx of people to Australia. We were in very unusual circumstances. It was Australians returning home and international students enrolled at education institutions who were finally able to come onshore, and immigration was too high. It needed to come down, and we've done that. It's come down 40 per cent in the last few years. We've made significant changes to our migration system to improve its integrity and set more sustainable levels. We've also provided additional resources to our security agencies so they're better able to conduct security checks.

This year, our permanent migration program is 185,000 people, the same as last year. Seventy per cent of those are skilled visa holders. They are people working in areas where we desperately need more workers—aged care, child care and health care. The rest of those visas are predominantly for families, for Australians falling in love overseas and bringing their partners and children back home.

I think we should always be looking at the shape and size of our migration system, making sure it continues to work for the interests of Australia. But we need to be honest about the consequences of pulling down on some of those levers. Do we want to reduce the number of skilled workers? What impact would that have on hospitals, aged care and the agriculture sector? Do we want to make it harder for Australians who are bringing loved ones here? These are questions that those opposite could never answer when they were trying to make changes to the migration system, but they are all legitimate discussions to have. This is something that we as a country need to discuss openly and honestly. But we should always do so with compassion and humanity and never resort to the term 'mass migration', because the term 'mass migration' masks people's stories and their contributions.

We must never forget that our migration system is made up of people—people with names, stories, aspirations, and a contribution to make. In the migration debate I hope we never forget those people—like my parents, Phet and Syphan Sitou. My story is both improbable and yet typical of so many migrant families in Australia. My parents fled their homeland fearful of what might happen to them because of who they were and the values they held. My family is of Chinese heritage, but my parents were born and raised in Laos. They fled their homeland and were incredibly lucky Australia gave them refuge. When my parents came here, they had very little formal education and spoke very little English, and yet they were able to thrive here. They worked hard in factories, where they were able to find secure work with good conditions. They gave my brother and me the opportunities that they never got. My family thrived here.

I am the proud daughter of migrants, I am a federal member of the Australian parliament and I proudly represent one of the most diverse electorates in the country. I have met the most extraordinary people in my electorate, those who are newer to this country and those whose families have been here for generations. They've embraced the very best of the Australian story—our freedom to speak out, to hold a faith and to build the life we want and our responsibilities to those around us so that we may all prosper together. I hope you see in their stories, and in mine, the power of the Australian story, because stories like ours are possible only in countries like Australia. Our success here is one of the best expressions of Australian values. Where else would it have been possible that we can live with freedom, respect, fairness and, above all, equality of opportunity?

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