UK main source of permanent migrants

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UK main source of permanent migrants

MARY-ANNE TOY

September 1, 2009

Australia's permanent migration report, released yesterday, shows that the United Kingdom remains the country's biggest source of permanent migrants, followed by India and China.

Bucking a historical trend, the UK's share of the permanent migration program increased 9 per cent in the year ended June 30. There were 30,590 permanent migrants from the UK, up from 28,029 the previous year. But at 17.9 per cent of the permanent migration pool, the UK intake is still a significant reduction from 2005-06, when it was 22.5 per cent.

India provided 25,042 permanent migrants (14.6 per cent of the total) and China 21,831 (12.7 per cent) as Australia continues a shift to take people from the region.

The biggest group of permanent settlers was New Zealanders, who are not counted in the official program. More than 47,000 Kiwis made Australia home last year.

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said she supported Immigration Minister Chris Evans' plan for a long-term immigration strategy, reported yesterday in The Age, and called for temporary migration to be included in migration targets.

She also said the failure to officially count the more than 47,000 New Zealanders was perverse: ''It's absurd if we want a true factual understanding of new settlements.''

Dr Stone said a long-term plan deserved bipartisan support, but Senator Evans should acknowledge that unauthorised arrivals, though relatively uncommon, were taking up resources that should go to refugees who arrive officially.

Australia accepted 13,500 refugees last year, which included asylum seekers.

The Business Council of Australia yesterday supported the Government's thrust to continue a skills-based migration program of permanent and temporary migrants.

''It's not at a rate that we see is beyond our capacity as a country,'' the council's policy director, Patrick Coleman, said.

Australian National University demographer Peter McDonald also backed the push to increase employer-nominated migration.

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