Senior figures who helped shape Australia’s migration system have joined a growing alliance of more than 60 business, civil society and peak organisations calling for a National Migration Summit to reset the debate and develop a long-term national vision for migration.
The Hon Philip Ruddock AO, Australia’s longest-serving immigration minister, and Dr Abul Rizvi, former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration, have today added their voices to calls for a formal national conversation about the future of Australia’s migration system, grounded in evidence rather than political point-scoring.
Their support adds momentum to a broad alliance, convened by non-profit SSI, calling on the Australian Government to bring key stakeholders together to move beyond the narrow and short-term debate over year-to-year migration number and build a more constructive, long-term approach that serves Australia’s economic and social interests.
The alliance includes peak bodies representing the mining and technology industries, small business, social services, aged care, hotels and restaurants, and regional Australia, demonstrating the breadth of support for a reset of the migration debate.
A National Migration Summit would bring together all levels of government, business, unions, community and settlement organisations, researchers, economists and migration experts to review the evidence, openly examine the trade-offs and an evidence-based plan for Australia’s migration system.
Rather than focusing on migration numbers in isolation, the summit would openly examine the benefits, costs and trade-offs, addressing legitimate community concerns about housing, infrastructure and cost-of-living pressures alongside Australia’s workforce needs, productivity, regional development, demographic change and social cohesion.
“We should never be afraid of having an informed public debate about immigration. We should be afraid of what happens when we stop having one,” said Mr Ruddock in remarks released ahead of a policy forum in Canberra tonight.
Dr Rizvi added: “A national summit would provide an opportunity to examine the structural weaknesses in our current arrangements and establish a clearer, more coherent approach to immigration policy.”
SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis welcomed this support, saying it was significant to see people with different political, policy and professional backgrounds joining together around a common proposition: Australia needs a serious conversation about the future of migration.
“People will have different views about migration, and that is exactly why we need to bring those voices together. What unites this alliance is the belief that something this important to Australia’s future cannot be reduced to a political contest over a number.
“Migration touches almost every part of our national life, from our workforce and economy to housing, infrastructure, regional development and social cohesion. We need a forum capable of considering those issues together.
“A National Migration Summit would create the space for that discussion and help us move towards a longer-term approach that communities can understand and have confidence in.”
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