Immigration And The Australian Election


At the recently concluded federal elections in Australia, immigration has been one of the key issues tackled by the contending parties. And with this one finally over, it is time to look back and see what the points that have been raised are. And it is also time to look at how the new administration will handle the issue.


Here, one of the biggest issues that has made the rounds of panel discussions and debates is that of immigration cuts. It is interesting to note that both the Labor Party's Julia Gillard (the current Prime Minister) and Liberal's Tony Abbott agreed that the country's immigration intake must be lowered. They argued that this one is necessary to ensure that the country would still be able to sustain its growing population.


However, the two greatly differ on in the manner at which they believe that this cuts are to be implemented. Abbott sees that an immigration cut must be implemented immediately. He also argues that significant numbers must be slashed, saying that he intends to cut the annual intake from 300,000 people to around 150,000 if he is elected.


For her part, Gillard is opting to take a much more gradual approach to immigration cuts. She said that if she is reelected, she is not going to make an immediate cut in the numbers. She instead asserted that the immigration process must be restructured in order to meet up the country's needs, as well a manage the incoming immigrants. This is what she termed as a so called sustainable population and has become one of the central aspects of her campaign platform.


The Australian public trooped to the polling precincts last Aug. 21 and the results were in by night. As the tallies come in, it was revealed that the Labor Party was able to secured 72 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Liberal Coalition garnered 71. As the House required that a given party has 76 seats to be declared the majority, the situation is declared as a hung parliament. In this case, Labor will still be ruling party, with Gillard at its helm.


However, those supporting Gillard's immigration policies will have to hold off the celebrations just yet. The thing is, with the situation like this, it is unlikely that she will be able to gain majority approval of her policies. And with both parties now busy wooing the three independents who were able to get in, the tide can actually change quickly.



Image Source

http://8pak.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/australia.jpg

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