Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm is urging the Government to look carefully at the options in the Report by the Productivity Commission into the Migrant Intake released today outlining how Australia could save taxpayers $25 billion each year.
Senator Leyonhjelm welcomed the report, the first to model the potential benefits of requiring migrants to pay for permanent places in Australia. The Report calculates that if our non-humanitarian intake of 190,000 immigrants were each charged around $50,000, Australia could generate around $9 billion per year. A total of $25 billion could be put towards budget repair due to changes in our migrant intake and social security payments. This would repair the budget in only two years.
Senator Leyonhjelm said that this proposal would do far more than this week’s Omnibus Savings Bill, which proposes savings of only $6 billion over four years.
“Charging for immigration could be an international game changer,” Senator Leyonhjelm said. “Australia is one of the most desired destinations in the world for migrants and putting a price on it is simply good economics and good policy. This would not impact on humanitarian and refugee programs, which can remain.
“Placing a price on immigration will encourage hard-working immigrants and create greater acceptance of them. It will also put an end to bureaucrats trying to pick winners. A charge-based scheme would attract people with the skills we actually need.”
Senator Leyonhjelm says the report has identified significant failings in the existing system.
“The Commission criticises the bureaucratic method for selecting skilled migrants, but I am disappointed they have not agreed with our belief that the existing points system should be abolished and replaced with a pricing system,” Senator Leyonhjelm said
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Contact Gavin Atkins at Senator Leyonhjelm’s office on 0448 164 844.
