The Coalition is vowing to bring a different approach to this. It’s being spearheaded by Shadow Immigration Minister Queensland, Senator Paul Scarr, who joins me in the studio right now. Paul Scarr, I know you’re passionate about Migration. You work with so many of those who’ve arrived in our country, but let’s face it, there’s something wrong with the mix and people receiving population, those who’ve lived here all our lives, we have to feel good about what migrants are bringing to the table. I’m not sure people are feeling like that right now.
Senator Scarr
Gary, I get a lot of feedback, and I’ve received a lot of feedback since I’ve taken this position as Shadow immigration Minister, and I think it’s absolutely vital that, with respect to our migration policy, that whatever the policy is that’s got the backing of the Australian people.
Gary Hardgrave
it has to be. I mean, Philip Ruddock, when he was immigration minister, and I worked with him, he made the point, unless you’ve got support from the receiving community, us, again, every migrants got a problem. Yet, I know, you know, migration should be a nation building exercise, but a lot of people don’t feel like that right now.
Senator Scarr
And we’ve got to get it back to that. We’ve got to address these issues. And one of the frustrations I have in this portfolio is that the government hasn’t yet announced, formally announced its immigration, permanent migration intake for the 25/26 year, even though we’re in July, we’re in July. We’re through the first week [cut off]
Gary Hardgrave
We’re in August now.
Senator Scarr
They still haven’t announced what the program is for the 25/26 year. And when they were challenged on this, they said, well, until we announce something. It’s the last year’s program. It just rolls over.
Gary Hardgrave
But this is like a million people in every couple of years coming to Australia. Where are they going to live?
Senator Scarr
And that is a question which is raised with me all the time. If there was a million people, as you say, that came in the first two years of the Labor Government. And at the moment, we are facing challenges in terms of housing, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of government services, and I see it where I have my office out in Springfield in the southwest corridor. That corridor is under, under going, enormous growth, but it doesn’t have the infrastructure to support it, and the cost of housing keeps going up and up. The price to construct a home in Australia has also gone up by about 50% over the last few years, and the time to construct a house has also gone up by 50% so we’re actually in this really difficult position where we haven’t got the housing supply coming up, and we also have, as you said, the first two years of the Labor Government, we had this enormous, 1 million net overseas migration.
Gary Hardgrave
So the prospect is, current plan is we’re going to have another million over the next couple of years.
Senator Scarr
Well, we’ll see what the figures are over the course of last year. One of my concerns, Gary, is that the government presents forecasts, and then over the last three years, the actual figures have exceeded the forecast by approximately, in total, over 300,000.
Gary Hardgrave
So this is 1.3 million.
Senator Scarr
Well over the forecasts, over the forecast. And that says to me, this is a government that’s not managing this portfolio in the way it should be managed in order to maintain that social license, which we spoke about, and to make sure that our migration policy is in our national interest.
Gary Hardgrave
Well, it has to be, because it has always been a nation building exercise, the post world war two stuff we talk about that all the time. When people just didn’t come to live in Australia. They came to build Australia. They came here with a purpose and that’s why the Greeks, the Italians, the Russians, the Germans, people that were fighting each other in Europe actually were working with each other because they had a project called Australia,
Senator Scarr
Correct.
Gary Hardgrave
And that’s what’s missing now.
Senator Scarr
Another point I’d make in terms of the selection of people. In my view, every one of those immigration places is precious. It’s an opportunity for someone to come to this country and be part of that nation building project you refer to. But the government has been very poor at managing the skilled migration program, and we have shortages in this country of carpenters, cardiac surgeons. We need to attract the best and the brightest to this country, and in that regard, the government is very badly managing that system such that there are people who just don’t know if they put an application in, how long it’s going to take to be processed and what their prospects are, which means the best and the brightest, they’ll go to Canada, they’ll go to New Zealand, they’ll go to Singapore, wherever. But we want to get the numbers right, but we also want to get the best and the brightest coming to this country to continue that nation building project you refer to.
Gary Hardgrave
So quantity is one thing. Quality, definitely is the go. Rough figures, my understanding, Senator, and you’d know this better than me, but my understanding is basically 3% of our skilled migration program was people with nation building, as in house building skills. So 100% needed houses, but only 3% could help build them, and they’ve been CFMEU conspired. I’ll say it. There’s an inquiry into the CFMEU, but the CFMEU and the various unions were saying, we don’t want people with those skills, because it will devalue those who have been trained in Australia. That was their theory, dumb theory. Because when you got 1 million people in a couple of years coming here, 4% lift in the population in just a handful of years, you know that we can’t build the houses fast enough. We need people to come here to build things.
Senator Scarr
When we invite people to this country, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the capacity in terms of housing, in terms of infrastructure. And the point you made with respect to the CFMEU are right on the money, and they’ve also contributed to an explosion in construction costs. A 30%, we call it the CFMEU Tax. So it costs 30% more to build a highway, 30% more to build a bridge or a school or a hospital.
Gary Hardgrave
Or your backyard barbecue, frankly, because you got to compete with those higher prices on big projects, government funded projects, if you’re doing DIY stuff in your backyard.
Senator Scarr
So it’s, it’s a real issue.
Gary Hardgrave
So we’ve got problems with people who actually don’t want to fit into Australia. They want to change Australia as well. That’s another allegation I’ve made, and I think, unfortunately, it’s true, and I’m not picking on types of people. I don’t want to see that, because Australians have been, I think they’ve been giving people a fair go, providing people a fair dinkum if they want to actually plug in and be part of the community. People are willing to embrace all sorts of people from all sorts of places, but I just don’t think the national interest test, if there is one being used, is actually understood well, because we should be able to decide who comes to Australia and the terms under which they come.
Senator Scarr
Anyone who comes to our country and wants to build a life in our country should share our values, and that means our rule of law, the fact that we’re all treated equally, regardless of our religion, our ethnicity, our race, our gender, and those fundamental elements of what it is to be Australian, anyone coming to this country should share those values. For me, that’s the first principle. It’s got to be the foundation principle.
Gary Hardgrave
I think that’s important that you say that, because, I mean, obviously the Coalition should be able to build a relationship, as has been the case in the past with the immigration class. They’re the ultimate aspirational voter.
Senator Scarr
Correct.
Gary Hardgrave
You should be able to build that relationship.
Senator Scarr
Absolutely, And as you know, I’ve, since I came into the Senate, I’ve reached out to many of those communities and spent a lot of time with people who have engaged in that nation building process, and our Vietnamese Community is a wonderful example of that. They came to this country 50 years ago, and they’ve made such a wonderful contribution to our country, and those are the stories which inspire me and communities like that, set the standard for everyone. But if you’re going to come to our country, you’ve got to share those foundational principles.
Gary Hardgrave
Okay. So the deal to the best and the brightest is come to Australia and enjoy the worst standard of living, a declining standard of living, high electricity prices. And you know, you had the opportunity to vote for Pauline Hanson’s Stunt Motion the other day on Net Zero, you walked out.
Senator Scarr
Well, Gary, we’d made it very, very clear that we’re going through a very serious policy review process.
Gary Hardgrave
Say NO to Net Zero Senator!
Senator Scarr
We got a smacking at the last federal election. As you know, there’s a process we need to go through, and the process isimportant Gary, because everyone in the party room, everyone from the Liberal Party, the National Party, whether or not they’re representing the regions or metropolitan areas, has to have their say. And it’s only by going through that process where everyone has their say, has an opportunity to have input. And there’s a considered process that when we come out the other side, whatever the decision is, we should be united and come up with the suite of policies to take to the next election.
Gary Hardgrave
So can you say to me that you still support Net Zero?
Senator Scarr
Well, I’m going to be participating in the process myself, because we took to the last election, a policy, which included nuclear power. And I think if, if we’re going to have an aspiration to reach Net Zero, there’s got to be a pathway to reach Net Zero.
Gary Hardgrave
You’ve come out of the Mining Industry. You understand this stuff.
Senator Scarr
Well, absolutely, that’s why I say, don’t, don’t give me a target, unless you can present to me a pathway that’s affordable to reach the target. That’s what I want to know. And we’ve seen during the course of this year also, we’ve seen the dreams of the huge green hydrogen industry falling over from Twiggy Forest to Woodside to Origin. We’ve seen offshore wind farms canceled, etc. Whatever the policy is, to the extent it sets a goal or a target, there needs to be an achievable way, an affordable way, to achieve that target, and we’ve got to have affordable power.
Gary Hardgrave
Well, Paul Scarr, I’ll tell you straight. I’ve known you a long time. Forget the target about emissions. Forget all of these subsidies. Have a target about the price. I challenged David Janetski yesterday announce a policy that says I want electricity prices 30% cheaper in three years, and go and make it happen. I think it’s got to be price driven. It’s got to beprice driven. If you’re not, if you’re not hearing that, I’d be very surprised.
Senator Scarr
I’m hearing it.
Gary Hardgrave
I’m sure you are. And I know you’re not going to say anything, because there’s a process. But people don’t want process. They just want cheaper electricity. And they wanted it last year, simple, okay?
Senator Scarr
Well, they were promised it last year by the Labor Government.
Gary Hardgrave
We’re not going to get it.
Senator Scarr
They were promised $275 a year cheaper, and it’s $1,300 a year more expensive.
Gary Hardgrave
Well, my strong advice to you as a constituent, somebody I’ve known you for 30 or more years, stop talking about Net Zero. Start talking about cheaper prices and the way you get it. Just get it done. That’s all I’ll say. All right, there you go. I’ve pushed you. I pushed you. Thanks for your time. Good to see you. Paul Scarr, we’ll catch up again soon.
Senator Scarr
Look forward to it, Gary.
