It was inevitable we were going to be able to pinpoint the exact moment that Scott Morrison realised his absurdly fake daggy dad routine actually wasn’t working on the electorate at all, and it seems like that moment is now. Despite the fact he has said in the past that doing so would be a huge drag on the economy, the Prime Minister has announced that he will seek to slash Australia‘s immigration numbers.
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This concession to the hard right of his own party – and the policies of One Nation – is based on ScoMo’s claims that the “roads are clogged” and the country’s infrastructure can’t handle an influx of immigrants at current levels. Of course, an actually functional infrastructure and urban development plan doesn’t seem to be on the cards – just blaming immigrants. Helpful!
“The roads are clogged, the buses and trains are full,” Morrison said. “The schools are taking no more enrolments. I hear what you are saying. I hear you loud and clear.”
Rather than defining the migration cap at the federal level, Morrison signalled that he wants to let the states decide. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has signalled that she wants to halve immigration numbers to her state.
The old model of a single, national number determined by Canberra is no longer fit for purpose. My approach will be to move away from top-down discussions about population to set our migration intake caps. I anticipate that this will lead to a reduction in our current migration settings.
Back in 2016, Morrison was singing a completely different tune. In an address to the Lowy Institute, he praised the economic benefits of immigration, and warned politicians about the dangers of kowtowing to simplistic anti-immigration sentiment for votes.
“It can be politically popular and rewarding to simply endorse these policy sentiments,” he said, perhaps preempting the fact that he himself would do this just two years later. “However, there is great danger in following this path.”
Back in February, when everyone’s best mate Tony Abbott was also talking about cutting immigration, Scott got specific about the economic effects. “If you cut the level of permanent immigration to Australia by 80,000, that would cost the budget, that would hit the bottom line, the deficit, by $4bn to $5bn over the next four years.”
Obviously, that was before he saw how badly his government was doing in the polls. Cool!
