What we know about Australia’s Immigration policy in the last 20 years: a quick review
And a simple story
I used to work in an educational establishment in Melbourne’s CBD for almost two years. Like so many education companies, mine consisted of people of different colour and race. I felt utterly blessed to be included in such a multicultural setting that truly reflects Australian values. However, I clearly misinterpreted the concept.
When I worked there, I found everyone easy to approach. Yet somehow for many of my colleagues, especially those from multicultural backgrounds, unease and worries would occasionally emerge out of their well-concealed, sophisticated appearances. The precarious anxiety revealed itself particularly during the end or beginning of a financial year.
There was one receptionist, with whom I always shared my precious half-hour lunchtime while gossiping around. We could chat about our families at home and she dazzled me with her rich knowledge of the world.
She was often very busy and swamped with inquiries at the front desk, yet she was never once late for our lunch date. However, one day, she didn’t show up in the kitchen. Later that day, she texted me apologised and gave her reason for her absence. She was at her immigration lawyer for the whole day and was discussing the future about her work visa. If she didn’t get nominated by the government before the expiration date, she would be deported.
With an average of 300,000 applicants applying for Australian permanent residence — as at the 2018/19 financial year — It is akin to be waiting anxiously and praying to be the “chosen one”. The chance of obtaining permanent residency in Australia can be seen as trying to win a million-dollar lottery.
Australia’s immigration policy is the most debatable yet dependable policy for the government as the low rate of population growth has made it the reputable de facto population policy according to 2016’s Migrant Report.
In the middle of 2019, 7.5 million migrants were living in Australia that accounted for almost 30% of Australia’s whole population.
The trend over the past 20 years
The first ten years (2000–2010) have seen a sharp increase in migration intake in Australia
Over the years, immigration policies have been fluctuating based on political alternations and reshuffles. The chart above shows that during the beginning of the 21st century, Australia has seen its third steep rise in migration intake. Thanks to the Howard government (1996–2007), the revisited policies have helped open up migration spots by an average of 110,000 a year.
At its peak, the Australian immigration policy has guaranteed around a capped 190,000 permanent visas issued a year. This was an effective way to address the increasing aging problem. However, based on the latest finding from the ABC report “the shifting policy has caused Australia’s population swell by 30 per cent since 2000”.
Australia’s top three permanent visa applicant countries — UK, India and China — have not changed for almost two decades.
During the first ten years (2000–2010), the Howard government brought up the idea of “multiculturalism”, which aimed to build an inclusive society that welcomes people all race and religion as long as they behold “commitment to our nation, its democratic institutions and its laws.” However, towards the end of Howard’s tenure, concerns emerged in relation to the 2005 London attacks and the Cronulla riots in Sydney the following year which had exposed the deficiencies of the concept “multiculturalism”.
In 2007, Kevin Rudd beat John Howard to be the Prime Minister as the leader of the labour party and his government issued an official paper on Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to tackle immigration issues.
The paper addresses the concerns of the similar dangers Australia may face if multiculturalism allows people from certain cultures or religion, those that “were considered incompatible with the core values of Australia Society, reside and live freely.”
Subsequently, the concept of “multiculturalism” was removed from the future immigration policymaking, and a brand-new concept of “citizenship” was born.
The second ten years (2010–2020) have seen a slower increase with tiny plunges along the way
As government budgets, businesses, and universities have grown more dependent on the higher rate of population growth, other risks such as national security, criminality and fraud also added some complexities into immigration policies.
To tackle the unplanned population increase, the Australian government had opted to restructure the immigration intakes of different visa application streams which had transformed Australia immigration policy into a more skill-set-based one. In the meantime, a more exclusive citizenship test had also applied to raise the English-language standard and applicants’ understanding of Australian society.
In 2016, when Malcolm Turnbull became the leader of the Coalition government, his government significantly reformed the immigration policy and introduced a “cost-effective” one which shaped the skill-based immigration policies into the ones we adopt over the past few years.
In his reformed policies, a new universal points test was integrated into the application process to a higher degree — mainly for permanent skilled visa stream — new standards consisting applicants’ age, skill, English language score are quantized into single digits, only when the score passes a certain threshold, will the applicants be invited to proceed the following procedures.
Additionally, the waiting period for family streamed visa has been extended significantly. Let’s use the partner sponsored temporary visa 820 as an example: the average 14 month waiting period has been extended to 20 months over the years. With the travel restriction and economy slowdown on the way, the waiting period only tends to be dragged even longer.
The Current Obstacle: COVID and Economic Slowdown
In 2020, the Australian economy has been bravely combatting the unexpected stagnation as COVID-19 sweeps through the world with its formidable power that has almost brought the world economy into a state of “hibernation”. The immigration policy in Australia is also affected without a doubt.
As 2020 is stepping into its fourth quarter, the immigration policies tend to tighten its grip on the entry requirements for skilled-visa applicants. Meanwhile, a new immigration plan — The Global Business and Talent Attraction Taskforce — is introduced and is prioritised to attract highly skilled workers and bring lucrative investment into Australia.
During the last five years, the number of permanent migrants has dropped from 190,000 to 160,000 under the current Coalition government and the partner sponsored visa 820 and 801 has also cut its number down to 40,000 a year, 10,000 less than previous years.
For immigration visa applicants, like my colleague, the grim economy is definitely a much harder blow on their plans. It was a hard time for them pre-COVID to get a seat on the list, let alone during the climate of the economic slowdown.
Long before COVID, my colleague has thought about migrating to Canada, a country that embraces high skill foreigners with an immigration policy that is akin to Australia’s. However, with the travel restrictions imposed and international flights stranded, there is nothing she can do but wait until her “dreamed” Australian life goes back to normal.
Australia policies have long stated that migrants need to possess “a higher than average skill level than the existing workforce.” Maybe for people like my colleague, she might not have the luck and privilege to stay in a land she loves and has lived for almost 10 years.
