Migrants Love Us Despite The Efforts Of Hanson
Sun Herald
Sunday October 26, 2008
FUNNY how nobody talks about immigration any more. The hottest topic of five years ago has vanished from the national agenda. That's probably because Australians think there isn't much of it happening these days.
We assume the immigration program was cut back during the Howard years because both sides of politics feared most Australians were deep-down racists and would vote against any party that brought in more foreigners.It's time to dispose of some myths. Immigration is at record levels and, if Australians knew what kind of new citizens they are getting, they would be delighted. So let's tell them.The first clue comes from the population clock on the Bureau of Statistics website. It now operates on the assumption that this country has a net gain of one migrant every two minutes and 55 seconds. Five years ago it was calibrated on the basis of one migrant every four minutes and nine seconds.Combine the immigration boom with our current breeding frenzy and you find our population going up by one person every one minute and 37 seconds (and set to reach 22million by 2011). We currently have a net gain of 178,000 new settlers a year - the highest rate in 20 years - and that is 56 per cent of our annual population growth. The countries contributing most are Britain, New Zealand, China and India. Most of us would probably go along with the stereotype that the Chinese get top marks at university and end up as doctors and scientists, while the Indians work in call centres and run curry shops. The bureau presents some mythbusting research from the 2006 census. It says that in the immigration program since 2000, 61 per cent of the Chinese and 82 per cent of the Indians arrived through the "skill stream" (as opposed to family reunions or refugees).The biggest surprise is that the Chinese earn less than Australian-born people, while the Indians earn more. "The median individual income of people born in China was $239 per week compared with $539 for people born in India and $484 for Australian-born people," says the bureau.Where do the new arrivals work? "Accommodation and food services was the largest employing industry for China-born residents ... manufacturing was the largest employing industry for India-born residents."Nearly a third of the Indian arrivals describe themselves as "professionals" (compared with 22 per cent of Chinese and 19per cent of Australian-born). At the lowest paying end of the employment scale, 14 per cent of Chinese, 8 per cent of Indians and 10 per cent of Australians describe themselves as labourers.What kind of numbers are we talking about? Have we opened the floodgates to people who are taking jobs away from good old Aussie labourers, restaurateurs and graduates?The bureau reports that Australia's population of 21.5million now includes 206,588 who were born in China, and 147,106 who were born in India. Hardly the kind of numbers likely to give nightmares to Pauline Hanson - but enough to make Australia a more interesting place.To discuss this, see http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare
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