Morrison plans to give Australian states more immigration control

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is prepared to let each state and territory have more control over its annual immigration intake in the future.

Under new proposals, each state and territory government would have to submit their annual requirements for skilled migrants to the federal government each year, along with proof that they have the sufficient infrastructure to support the numbers.

The suggested system would shift the onus for determining the permanent ­migration intake from the commonwealth government to the states and territories, although the federal government would still determine the overall national intake.

“Because the states plan roads, hospitals and schools, they need to say where they want population growth,” explained Morrison.

It is understood that the proposal is only in the early stages of development, with the cabinet likely to approve the ­creation of a population taskforce to provide recommendations on this and other ­policies as part of a broader population plan.

It has also been suggested that one of these policies will be for migrants to be required to spend five years living in a regional area if they want to achieve permanent residency.

PM Morrison said the push to get migrants out to regional areas could be done by placing conditions on non-permanent visas.

“if you want permanent residency in this country and you’re on a non-permanent visa, and you haven’t been compliant with the terms of your non-permanent residency visa and you go home,” he said.

“This is a blinding piece of common sense, which is: how about states who plan for population growth and the Commonwealth government who sets the migration levels, actually bring this together?” Morrison told Australia’s Sky News.

Article published 12th November 2018