Will Australia have to let in tens of thousands of unskilled migrants?

Cynthia Banham:

AUSTRALIA will have to open its doors to potentially tens of thousands of unskilled migrants to save its smaller Pacific island neighbours from economic ruin, a report commissioned by the Federal Government has found.

The report, by a taskforce on foreign aid, argues that the plight of the island nations has become so dire that urgent remedies, notably moving abroad in search of job opportunities, are necessary to keep them viable.

The tiny states of Nauru, Kiribati and Tuvalu are cited as the economies most in need of a migration fix. But the report also points to Melanesian nations like Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, with their larger populations.

While the Federal Government has substantially raised its immigration numbers over the past few years, its policy is to concentrate on people with skills.

Late last year, the Prime Minister, John Howard, flatly rejected a request from Pacific island leaders to allow seasonal workers into the country, arguing that it would simply create a new pool of visa overstayers.

The demand for a radical policy shift has been made by the Government's Core Group. It was commissioned to prepare a report for the new white paper on Australia's aid program.

The group's conclusion, after detailed economic analysis, is that it is "deeply concerned about the future of the Pacific".

To avoid a descent into increased poverty and a complete deterioration of services, the region needs to integrate with the global economy. This involves expanding migration opportunities for Pacific islanders.

"The Government should consider developing a Pacific unskilled migration window to facilitate migration, especially from Melanesia and the microstates," the report says.

"For microstates such as Nauru, Kiribati and Tuvalu, it is highly unlikely that these economies will be viable in the absence of migration opportunities."

The Core Group, headed by Professor Ron Duncan of the University of the South Pacific, says the need to expand migration opportunities to the Pacific islands is "urgent" given the rapid population growth.

You would think that the Australians would have learned an important lesson from their problems with Muslim immigrants that Third World immigration usually leads to higher crime rates.