Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers to questions from my colleagues Senator Scarr and Senator Paterson. I say 'answers', although there does seem to be a pattern to them—perhaps it's a lack of answers. There seems to be a recurring theme here of the avoidance of scrutiny by this Labor government. Prior to the election, Labor committed to bringing down migration numbers, and they committed to 'a principles based, multiyear planning model for permanent migration' and to collaborate with states and territories. This was an election promise. However, just last weekend, on the ABC, that commitment—that promise to you—was abandoned. It was abandoned by the minister, who is now refusing to provide a target number. He's even refusing to provide a range on permanent migration and on net overseas migration. In fact, all the minister has provided is three sentences, less than 100 words—a description of the program for the current year. How on earth is a country supposed to plan its growth, its infrastructure, its housing and its health care with nothing but a 100-word statement from a government that is shifty—from a government that is avoiding scrutiny at every single turn?

Let me be very clear here. Australia is a highly successful, peaceful, multicultural, proud migrant nation. Over one-third of all Australians were born overseas. Over half of all Australians have a parent that was born overseas. I reject—and, in fact, I'm very deeply hurt and offended by—Senator Dolega's insinuation that, somehow, if you want a well managed migration policy, that must mean that you're antimigrant and that must mean that somehow you're some deep seated racist. Nothing could be further from the truth. You'd be hard pressed to find anybody in this chamber without a first- or second-generation migrant within their family.

A well managed migration program has been the keystone, the foundation stone, of our successful social and economic story in this country. But there's no doubt at all that, when your population grows rapidly—as it has under Labor, who brought in 1.5 million migrants in their first term of government—and your migration program is out of control, there is pressure. There is pressure on your infrastructure. There is pressure on your healthcare system. There is pressure on housing, made so much worse by the decision of the Reserve Bank of Australia today to keep interest rates on hold even though we know that there are so many Australians out there that were hanging on every word from Michele Bullock today. Of course that is going to get worse if your migration program is out of control.

The fact that there have been 315,000 migrants in the last 12 months—this is something that Labor is, somehow, crowing about. Yet it's around 46 per cent higher than the 10-year average. It's around 34 per cent higher than the long-term average assumption that is being used in the budget data forecast by Treasury. So they have massively outstripped their own targets and, somehow, are crowing about the success of their migration program. That is absolute nonsense. A successful migration program requires planning. It requires management. It requires sustainability. It needs to have a social licence. It needs to have the permission of the people that voted for you, and you have not got that. In fact, you have completely ignored the policy that you took to the last election. Most importantly, it requires transparency, which is exactly what this government promised. Unfortunately, they have reneged on that promise.

A well managed immigration policy brings in the skills that we need for the life that we want. That's pretty simple. That's been the foundation stone of our migration policy for as long as I can remember, but, if Labor cannot or will not manage our migration program, the economy suffers and our services suffer. It's Australians that end up paying the price. Not only have Labor broken an election commitment; they've also demonstrated a profound failure in political leadership. Public support for immigration has been undermined by this government. When a government says one thing and does another and when it avoids scrutiny and refuses to account for its own outcomes, the public notice, and the public are putting you on notice.

Question agreed to.