The political battle over Australian immigration is really a story of what kind…
One Nation may have changed the outlines of the debate, but a majority of Australians still support immigration
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Anyone who thinks the current immigration debate is
Anyone who thinks the current immigration debate is simply about the number of foreigners being granted legal passage to Australia each year is only seeing half the picture.
Beyond the crude numerical projections (that a growing
Beyond the crude numerical projections (that a growing number of Australians believe have way too many zeros) is a more basic contest that is both economic and cultural and is being played out around the globe.
This is what Daron Acemoglu, a 2024 Nobel
This is what Daron Acemoglu, a 2024 Nobel prize-winning economist, casts as liberal democracy’s post-industrial crisis – a project that he argues has ceased to deliver on its core promise of sharing economic prosperity by vesting power in the people.
He places immigration at the fulcrum of this
He places immigration at the fulcrum of this reckoning because it brings to the surface a disparate set of cultural questions of shared values, identity and belonging which, if not resolved, drive people into populist waves of illiberalism.
Through the Guardian Essential report, we have benchmarks
Through the Guardian Essential report, we have benchmarks on Australians’ attitude to immigration charted over more than a decade now. They show that even as the immigration debate has raged over recent months, general support for immigration remains.
What has changed is the contours of this
What has changed is the contours of this political debate with the rise of One Nation. Where those opposing immigration were once a minority inside two major parties that broadly supported an expansive program, now they have a political home base.
One Nation’s blunt call to reduce immigration numbers
One Nation’s blunt call to reduce immigration numbers resonates with voters concerned about their jobs, their access to housing, the safety of their community and the availability of services. Immigration becomes a simple explanation for a series of complex problems.
But it is more than that: the major
But it is more than that: the major parties have both pushed the expansion of short-term visas to paper over failures in workforce planning and skills development, and then been too quick to dismiss those who raise questions as playing the politics of division – or worse, race.
To Acemoglu, this is the toxic sludge that
To Acemoglu, this is the toxic sludge that has poisoned liberal democracy: the tendency of economic elites to impose first their business models, then of the cultural elites to dismiss their concerns.
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The political battle over Australian immigration is really a story of what kind of nation we want to be | Peter Lewis
One Nation may have changed the outlines of the debate, but a majority of Australians still support immigration
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Source: Guardian Australia