Global General

Australia immigration figures go down

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-26 11:46
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CANBERRA - Changes made to visa laws will see fewer immigrants to Australia, Sustainable Population Minister Tony Burke said on Monday.

Burke said that although the opposition has promised to reduce Australia's annual immigration intake, the federal government was already doing just that, ABC Radio reported.

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Burke said it was disingenuous for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to claim he was going to slash immigration figures to 170, 000 when they were already on the way down.

"When Tony Abbott claims he is going to radically cut immigration figures to 170,000, the truth is, they've already got down to 230,000," he said.

"BIS Shrapnel projects that next year they'll be down to 175,000 and the year 11/12, they'll be down to 145,000."

Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison was standing by the opposition policy.

Morrison said the plan to slash immigration levels from 300,000 to 170,000 was equivalent to an average growth rate of 1.4 percent.

"It's not a scorched earth figure at all, it's a figure which is entirely achievable," he told ABC Radio on Monday.

Average growth predictions in the inter-generational report were put at 1.2 percent over 40 years, with a predicted population of 36 million in 40 years.

The coalition, if elected, would cut growth from current levels of 2 percent to 1.4 percent in its first term.

"That would put us on a growth trajectory which would actually be lower than what the intergenerational report has put in their most recent edition," Morrison said.

But Urban Taskforce chief executive Aaron Gadiel, who represents property developers, said immigration was vital to the economy.

"The alternative is that Australian businesses will either simply not undertake economic activity or relocate offshore where they can get the labor force," he told ABC Television.