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More than half of Australians now have at least one parent born overseas while temporary migration has surged to a record one million people per year, reshaping the workforce and politics.
More than half of all Australians now have at least one parent born overseas, with 51 per cent of the population being the child of an immigrant, as temporary migration surges to a record one million people per year.
That figure, equal to about 13 million Australians, comes as the country's intake shifts overwhelmingly from the permanent program to the temporary one. The change is reshaping both the workforce and the politics of the nation. When the author's mother left Poland in 1979 the country was locked behind the Iron Curtain. Her uncle and aunty asked if she would ever be able to come back again.
A Lifetime Inside Immigration
She did not know. Until last year she was the longest-serving Department of Immigration case officer in Australian history. For 43 years she worked to bring in refugees and vet those who were not. When the author was 12 his mother taught him how to pick a fake passport.
By the time he was 18 she had postings in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Africa. She knew all the tricks. There were asylum seekers who were suddenly so gay they could not stop kissing each other before their interview. There were Christian worshippers who were so devout they could not remember a single line of the Bible.
Yet in all the thousands of cases she decided over four decades, she did not find one immigrant who arrived intending to destroy Australia's values. They came because they wanted a better life for themselves and their children. What has changed in the past two decades is that the overwhelming majority of Australia's immigration intake has shifted from the permanent program of 200,000 per year to the temporary program of one million per year.
So have the settlement services that were historically wrapped around migrants when they entered the country as new Australians. Today you are much more likely to be a temporary migrant who entered on a student visa, then jumped onto a bridging visa and into a job, than a permanent migrant whose skills, circumstances and support were assessed by government.
Temporary Migrants and Lost Support
In the 1980s the Australian settlement team, including the author's father, took in artists from Romania, refugees from Vietnam and an eccentric band of migrants from Poland. They taught them English and how to find a job. Those first years in Australia are crucial to supporting a shared identity. Now, as business dictates the flow of temporary migrants under the demand-driven system, the government sees less need to wrap services around them.
All because the iron law of GDP means the economy must keep growing without taxpayer dollars subsidising the cost of supporting them. At the same time the economy has become dependent on temporary migrants. They now make up a record 16 per cent of the working-age population.
Those who want to further their careers often run head-on into Australia's guild system, the antiquated peak bodies that control who can work as a professional based on which university they attended and the amount they can pay to match qualifications they are already entitled to. When the temporary visa process begins through the instigation of businesses or universities, the government has very little visibility of its impact on infrastructure until it is too late.
Policy at both the federal and state level becomes reactive, not proactive. After 30 years of deregulation, each visa category is now filled with vested business interests that will loudly criticise even the slightest change. Take away working holidaymakers and fruit will not get picked. Take away international students and university revenue is under threat.
The Costs of Dependence
Take away chefs and the price of a steak on a Friday will go up. The government knows Australia's dependence on temporary migration has become a problem. Both major parties have taken too long to become alert to the risks that the demand-driven system poses.
One Nation has found the gap and exploited it with great political effect, fuelled by the growing nativism of social media and an intractable global economic downturn that has voters looking for someone to blame for why their life may not have worked out as planned. As one of the 13 million Australians with a parent born overseas, it is difficult not to be alarmed by the tone of the debate.
The author's mother refused to speak to him in English, so he grew up bilingual and white. The only clue to his background is the y in his first name. He cannot imagine how those who wear a hijab or a sari are feeling. Labor and the Coalition have failed to sell the story of Australia as an immigration nation.
Australia's Immigration Identity
Instead, people have been reduced to statistics and anonymous proxies blamed for perceptions of misfortune. Migrants are younger, more educated, pay more tax and are more fertile. If Australia wants to thrive beyond the nostalgic image of some for a country long gone, then there is a balance worth fighting for. Otherwise the nation will end up older, poorer and dumber.
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brisbanetimes:I am the child of an immigrant. So are 51 per cent of Australians 
smh:I am the child of an immigrant. So are 51 per cent of AustraliansThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Temporary Migration Settlement Services Demand-Driven Visa System Multicultural Identity Overseas-Born Parents Population Politics
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