Migration numbers in Australia have hit a 10-year low, the government said yesterday, adding that its hardline stance had not just tightened borders, but ensured only the best candidates were accepted.
Australian Minister for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the annual intake of permanent migrants fell by 20,000 last year to 162,000, with both skilled and family visas down.
This was the lowest in a decade and attributable to tighter vetting procedures, he said, with dishonest applications in the government’s crosshairs.
“We’re making sure that people who do become part of our Australian family are coming here to work, not to lead a life on welfare,” he told reporters in Brisbane.
“If you have a robust migration program like we have, and you are assured of the entrants coming in through the program, that they are going to be productive, that they are going to work hard, they aren’t going to lead a life on welfare ... you will see increased economic benefit,” Dutton said.
Immigration remains a hot topic in Australia, amid concern about jobs and overcrowding in cities.
The Labor opposition party welcomed the drop in migration numbers, but said the government must do more to help those in offshore detention, where hundreds still remain in limbo.
“We have seen suicides, we’ve seen a range of mental health conditions being identified and the government has got that element of the policy wrong,” Labor Legislator Anthony Albanese said.
Canberra sends anyone who tries to enter the country by sea to camps on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island or on Nauru in the Pacific for processing, with even those found to be genuine refugees barred from Australia.
The policy has drawn the ire of rights groups as well as the UN, which has slammed Canberra’s harsh treatment of asylum seekers who arrive by boat.
Dutton defended the policy as a deterrent against people-smugglers and added that it allowed Australia to offer refuge to people seeking asylum through legitimate channels.
“Last year we had the biggest offshore intake [of refugees] into our country that we’ve seen in decades,” he said. “We did that because we’ve secured our borders.”
Australia’s humanitarian intake — which it excludes from its permanent migration count — was close to 22,000 for its program for 2016 to last year, which included a special assistance provision for 8,200 people affected by conflict in Syria and Iraq.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
At first, Francis Ari Sture thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside. Then he saw the golden eagle land. “We are staring at each other for, maybe, a whole minute,” Sture said on Monday. “I’m trying to think what’s in its mind.” The bird then attacked Sture five more times on Thursday last week, scratching and clawing the 31-year-old bicycle courier’s face and arms over 10 to 15 minutes as he sprinted down the mountain. The same eagle is believed to be responsible for attacks on three other people across a vast mountainous area of southern Norway
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
RSS