Migration soars and fools fly in
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March 28, 2013 - 1:53PM
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Michael Pascoe
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Brendan O'Connor George Megalogenis Australian Bureau of Statistics Michael Pascoe
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The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show net overseas migration soared by 32 per cent in the year to September 30, the main factor in Australia's population growth rising to 1.7 per cent.
I wonder if anyone has the heart to tell those 228,000 new residents that they're doomed to a life of misery here. Well, that's if you take Joel Fitzgibbon seriously.
Just when you thought Labor members couldn't make any greater fools of themselves, up jumps the Member for Hunter – a key Rudd supporter, former government whip and a former minister until he was sacked – who thinks households with annual income of $250,000 are struggling.
That rather redefines the Australian social landscape, and migrants should be warned. Joel is saying that households in the top 3 per cent of this fabulous nation are struggling. That's right, less than 3 per cent of Australian households have gross income of $250,000 or more – which means the other 95 per cent of us must be really badly off.
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According to the most recent ABS breakdown of household incomes, of the 8,398,500 Australian households in 2009-10, just 243,200 had gross income of $5000 a week or more. By way of minor comparison, there were a million households with weekly income of $399 or less. I wonder if the Red Cross has been called.
The vast majority of Australians are of course much better off than the bottom million households, but not as rich as the top 5 per cent. Those who haven't lost perspective about life and the universe and such might consider that they are blessed indeed to be relatively well off just by being in about the most desirable nation on earth.
But I suppose it is possible to lose perspective if you inherit a federal seat, with all of its perks, from your dad, and become used to swanning around China courtesy of a rich business woman. It would appear Joel Fitzgibbon has no concept at all of the real world.
Nonetheless, there are indeed households with gross income of $250,000, $500,000, $1 million and more who think they are indeed struggling. After all, it is a basic tenant of economics that wants are unlimited.
And it is one of the reasons migration has been so reinvigorating for Australia, beyond the present demographic necessities. Wave after wave of migrants wash up on our shores or alight at our airports, and most can't believe the opportunities that abound here, the wealth to be made, and the future to be secured for their children – even if they don't earn $5000 a week.
Today's population figures confirm forecasts made in this space over the past year or so that numbers were again rising, despite politicians' rhetoric. The RBA has assumed that our working-age population will grow by 1.7 per cent this year and next – the "third arm" of economic policy ensuring that inflation remains constrained, demand for infrastructure and housing continues, and that we have the ability to provide the services we demand.
As a shining light on a dreary Q&A panel on Monday night that included the hapless Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor, George Megalogenis managed to cut through the usual noise with the point that some of the best and brightest people want to come to Australia, and that we have an opportunity to acquire the skills, brains and drive that the restructuring world will most require.
Too bad we're still grubbing around in the muck – and struggling on $250K a year.
Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor.
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/migration-soars-and-fools-fly-in-20130328-2gw5u.html#ixzz2OnpzsAor
