leekers

Coalition and One Nation's immigration policy will ruin Australia economically and paints a delusional, false, and subtextually racist idea about immigration.

The idea that migrants are unskilled economic opportunists who come here to take welfare is a lazy lie. Framing them as a drain or a burden is entirely the opposite.

Over 70% of Australia's migrant intake are on skilled visas. Over half of Australia's age care sector workers are migrants. Internationally qualified nurses make up about 20% of the nursing workforce (35% for aged care). We're facing a shortage of healthcare workers in the coming decade - which we literally CANNOT make up the shortfall without skilled visas. They're not taking away jobs from us - we need them to fill vacancies that cannot be filled otherwise.

Over 24% of the construction industry is made up of migrants, meaning a huge amount of the homes built in Australia are because of migrants. Again, there will be a skills shortage if we decrease immigration levels to the radically low amount that the likes of Angus Taylor and Pauline Hanson want.

Universities rely on foreign students fees to operate. If the Coalition listens to experts and doesn't cull the much-needed skilled labour visas then the easier option would be to cut down on foreign students, which would cause massive instability and financial damage to universities, cost the economy $55 billion and a loss of jobs and skills.

You may have noticed that during the height of the pandemic when Australia's overseas migration went into the negative that housing did not become cheaper. Migrants aren't causing the housing crisis. They're enriching Australia. They're contributing to the economy, they're building things, they're looking after the sick, they're not just doing vital jobs but creating jobs for the community.

But also: migrants are literally just people! Like everyone else! Not an abstract economic concept. These are real people's lives that are going to be negatively impacted by Coalition/One Nation policy and it's our duty as fellow human beings to stand up for the wellbeing of those who are powerless to protect themselves because they lack voting rights to keep right-wing racists getting into power and harming them.

The anti-immigration rhetoric is not about the economy. Any expert will tell you it's not. It's a racist dogwhistle designed to throw people who can't vote under the bus to win over the support of racist idiots who can vote, but don't bother to do any research into policy. It's lazy. It's cheap. It's damaging.

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