Not welcome, Australia tells migrants

Australia will cut its intake of migrants for the first time in a decade, the government said yesterday, amid concern that skilled foreign workers could stoke resentment by taking jobs at a time of rising unemployment.

With a recession looming and the center-left government expecting unemployment to reach 7 percent by mid-2010, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the intake of skilled migrants would be reduced by about 14 percent.

Australia goes to the polls in late 2010 and immigration has been a charged issue in past polls, particularly following economic downturn.