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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Australia set to cut migrant intake !!!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">8:57 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 2) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>7678.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Australia set to cut migrant intake
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Govt under pressure to act due to financial crisis, rise in jobless rate </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Roger Maynard, Australia Correspondent
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SYDNEY: The Australian government has flagged a likely cut in migrant numbers, in the wake of the global financial crisis and an increase in the national jobless rate.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans told local media that a reduction was more likely than not, but there was no indication of the extent to which the annual intake would fall.
Figures are unlikely to be made public until the Budget is handed down in May.
But the government has come under increasing pressure in recent months to limit the yearly intake of migrants, which is currently nudging 200,000 a year.
The rising rate of unemployment, which is now running at 4.8 per cent, is the key factor. Last month, the number of Australians looking for work hit 540,000, the highest level since January 2006. An additional 300,000 are expected to lose their jobs between now and next year.
The opposition has already called on the government to scale back the immigration programme to 2005-06 levels, when 143,000 migrants entered the country, to offset rising unemployment.
And a new report published yesterday by Australia's Centre for Population Research added further fuel to the debate. The centre claimed that the government's migration programme challenged the interests of domestic workers and would add a huge influx of job seekers at a time when the bargaining power of local employees had taken a turn for the worse.
The report also identified the 457 visa programme, which allows temporary skilled migrants into the country, as a major threat to Australian-born job seekers.
One of the report's authors, Professor Bob Birrell of Monash University, claimed the visa is used as a 'back door' to permanent entry by low-wage workers.
Holders of 457 visas, who face less stringent language requirements than other migrants, are mainly from the developing world. The number of Indians, Chinese and Filipinos entering Australia on this visa has soared in the past two years.
According to anecdotal evidence, many are exploited and used to undercut the wages of Australian workers.
Prof Burrell told The Australian: 'People at the lower end of the spectrum are becoming permanent residents. They're vulnerable to exploitation because the employer knows they are not going to quibble with what he's offering them because they're desperate to get the permanent resident nomination.'
Last year, nearly 60,000 migrants entered Australia under the 457 visa programme. The Australian Conservation Foundation also wants a cut in migrant numbers, but for different reasons. It forecasts that Australia's population of 21 million would treble by the end of the century if the current level of migration continues, placing an added burden on 'already stretched' urban infrastructure and ecological systems.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Govt under pressure to act due to financial crisis, rise in jobless rate </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Roger Maynard, Australia Correspondent
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SYDNEY: The Australian government has flagged a likely cut in migrant numbers, in the wake of the global financial crisis and an increase in the national jobless rate.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans told local media that a reduction was more likely than not, but there was no indication of the extent to which the annual intake would fall.
Figures are unlikely to be made public until the Budget is handed down in May.
But the government has come under increasing pressure in recent months to limit the yearly intake of migrants, which is currently nudging 200,000 a year.
The rising rate of unemployment, which is now running at 4.8 per cent, is the key factor. Last month, the number of Australians looking for work hit 540,000, the highest level since January 2006. An additional 300,000 are expected to lose their jobs between now and next year.
The opposition has already called on the government to scale back the immigration programme to 2005-06 levels, when 143,000 migrants entered the country, to offset rising unemployment.
And a new report published yesterday by Australia's Centre for Population Research added further fuel to the debate. The centre claimed that the government's migration programme challenged the interests of domestic workers and would add a huge influx of job seekers at a time when the bargaining power of local employees had taken a turn for the worse.
The report also identified the 457 visa programme, which allows temporary skilled migrants into the country, as a major threat to Australian-born job seekers.
One of the report's authors, Professor Bob Birrell of Monash University, claimed the visa is used as a 'back door' to permanent entry by low-wage workers.
Holders of 457 visas, who face less stringent language requirements than other migrants, are mainly from the developing world. The number of Indians, Chinese and Filipinos entering Australia on this visa has soared in the past two years.
According to anecdotal evidence, many are exploited and used to undercut the wages of Australian workers.
Prof Burrell told The Australian: 'People at the lower end of the spectrum are becoming permanent residents. They're vulnerable to exploitation because the employer knows they are not going to quibble with what he's offering them because they're desperate to get the permanent resident nomination.'
Last year, nearly 60,000 migrants entered Australia under the 457 visa programme. The Australian Conservation Foundation also wants a cut in migrant numbers, but for different reasons. It forecasts that Australia's population of 21 million would treble by the end of the century if the current level of migration continues, placing an added burden on 'already stretched' urban infrastructure and ecological systems.
[email protected]
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