Josh Dolega (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of questions asked by coalition senators Scarr and Paterson. On this side of the chamber, we actually value migrants, we value migration, and we welcome the contribution that they make to our society. I strongly believe that we are better off as a country because of the contribution that migrants bring to our society.

Unfortunately, there are some on the opposite side—and I won't make a general comment because I do genuinely believe that not all of those on the other side of politics try to use migration and immigration as a way to divide us and to pin people against each other. It's really disappointing to see people celebrating in the name of being patriots or whatever dog whistling that they're up to. They drape an Australian flag around each other and talk about migration, and they try to say that we shouldn't be letting people come into the country. Well, I seriously challenge that, and I seriously take issue with using our national flag in a way that is to divide rather than to celebrate each other and to welcome people to our community. When migrants come to this country, they often come to regional areas, like Tasmania and Hobart, where I have had the great pleasure of living for several years. You see people and talk to people, and you think, 'They only want to come here, and they want to make a contribution to our way of life and to make our country better.'

When it comes to the migration numbers, migration numbers peaked in the 2022-23 year, at around 538,000 after the peak of COVID and once the borders reopened. As you would imagine, people started to come back. People wanted to come back and study; people wanted to come back to this great place. Why wouldn't you want to come here? It's the best place in the world. Ever since then and since the steps that this government has been taking, we have seen the migration numbers start to decline. In the 12 months to March 2025, it was down to 315,000, which is 40 per cent less compared to that peak.

When it comes to migrants, they have a lot of important roles. They come here and do a lot of the important work. These are some of the most cherished people in our country. They are doctors, nurses and tradies. They bring valuable skills to our country, and we're in the middle of a skills shortage. We're in the middle of a housing supply crisis. These crises didn't happen by accident. They happened by—well, let's just say—neglect from those opposite. They didn't have a housing minister for a lot of their decade in office. We've since taken steps to create paths for people to get skills in this country such as our fee-free TAFE, to allow people to get the skills, but migrants complement these policies. Migrants come in, and they bring specialised skills to assist with some of the shortages. I know we need to build more houses. The Housing Australia Future Fund is designed for that. It's just a shame that those opposite and the Greens again teamed up together, like they have in Tasmania, and blocked housing. That's a real shame. That's an absolute shame because—without being delayed by several years—we would have had a lot more housing built under the Housing Future Fund.

I might touch on the questions from Senator Paterson in relation to the interest rates. When we came to government, inflation was over six per cent. That, again, was after a decade of neglect and a decade of coalition policy— (Time expired)