We know that One Nation and its supporters are fact-resistant — earlier this week, new Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts repeated easily disproven lies that form the basis of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. But sometimes their fact aversion serves to undermine the very point they’re trying to making. In her maiden speech in the Senate last night, Pauline Hanson urged an end to immigration:
“Clean up your own backyard before flooding our country with more people who are going to be a drain on our society. I call for a halt to further immigration and look after our aged, sick and helpless first.”
Given immigration is actually a key source of economic growth, this statement makes no sense at all, but that’s Hanson’s usual irrational bigotry. The more substantial problem for Hanson is: who is going to look after our aged, our sick and our helpless?
Step forward … immigrants.
According to the most recent annual statistics from the Department of Immigration, in 2013-14 the third-biggest category for 457 visas in Australia was “health care and social assistance”, with more than 2800 visas issued for workers in that sector.
And that’s continued since then — according to the department’s most recent quarterly report on 457 visas, as at March this year, healthcare and social assistance was the third biggest overall category for 457 visa workers in Australia (excluding the miscellaneous “other industries” category), with more than 9000 doctors, nurses and childcare wrokers on visas looking after young, old and sick Australians. And in case you think that’s a category dominated by au pairs, registered medical officers and GPs are two of the top 10 visa categories — together they form nearly 6% of all 457 visa occupations. Calling a halt to further immigration would be particularly harmful for our aged, sick and helpless, Senator.
The underlying pride of being ignorant and the resultant elevation in social hierarchy of the uneducated, only ever leads to a discourse in the dichotomy of Us and Them or Good and Evil. While some would argue that historically, this philosophy has had it’s grand moments, in 21st century Australian politics, it’s just staphylococcus on the arse.
Actually, I reckon we do have too much migration, especially as our policies offer no infrastructure support for the states that settle migrants. I do not want to remove it however, just manage it. Also the 457 visas in building would be largely a rort I think. However, look how the coalition goes week at the knees. They will not even point out where One Nation is full of crap. Just Howard dogged it the first time. The LNP are absolutely spineless in this regard, as they are on many other issues.
I agree, Old Greybearded One…
“Given immigration is actually a key source of economic growth, this statement makes no sense at all, but that’s Hanson’s usual irrational bigotry.”
My apologies Bernard, but this statement reeks to me of the natural pre-condition of economists regarding growth which Ross Gittins decries… “even our economists have turned off their brains on the question of immigration and lost their way between means and ends. Now they believe in growth for its own sake, not for any benefits it may bring us.”
“what’s strangest about the economic elite’s unthinking commitment to high immigration is the way they wring their hands over our weak productivity growth and all the “reform” we should be making to fix it, without it crossing their minds that the prime suspect is rapid population growth.”
“when you increase the population while leaving our stock of household, business and public capital unchanged, you “dilute” that capital. You have less capital per person, meaning you’ve automatically reduced the productivity of labour.”
http://www.rossgittins.com/2015/07/how-growth-can-make-us-worse-off.html
From my reading of the Gittens article, he was commenting on business always advocating even higher immigration rather than the current level is too high.
There is not much point using facts or reason in discussing immigration – it’s an emotional issue for many people so facts don’t get you anywhere in an argument with the Hansons of the world.
Meanwhile, thousands of Australian nurses, doctors and aged-care workers go unemployed, because “cost-cutting”. I’m not saying that we should ban 457 workers or immigration in general – we shouldn’t, as immigrants in general (and 457 visas as initially envisioned) add to Australia, rather than subtracting from it.
But if we’re going to make it public policy to beat down, berate and belittle unemployed Australians at every turn, we ought to at least have the decency to not let unscrupulous bosses undercut Australian labour at every turn!
I retired from being a health-care worker [45+ years] over a decade ago. However, I still have many younger family members in this sector who tell me that Australian born, bred and educated nurses have trouble getting staff year employment straight out of university. Or for that matter, ANY employment even if experienced.
Further…the patients hate the fact that many ‘immigrants’ don’t even understand/speak English! What the hell is going on in our hospitals and healthcare institutions???
So Bernard…457 visas [or whatever] are all very well, but it would help if some of these people are equipped to do the job!!
Having just spent 14 days over the last 1 month in hospital, I can tell you that though there was a mixture of nurses from different backgrounds who had the best education & experience that was needed for me and the other patients, nurses to gave the best care which was needed. A number of them I had care for me 7 years ago when I first got sick. On the return of my illness and back into hospital late January it was a real comfort to see these nurses again, one was from Pakistan, and one from South Africa. I can tell you that most hospitals are looking for the most professional & caring nurses to look after their patients, it isn’t about the money, if you think that you are going to get rich nursing your in the wrong job. On my last day in hospital it was a joy to have a young lady who was transitioning from nursing school into her first day on the ward, with her trainer helping her. I do suggest that a lot of people take information from people that may have cultural biases attached. In both my experiences in hospital there were other patients who spoke English as their second language and the stress for them being put into hospital was very real. Whether we like it or not there are going to be people from very different backgrounds, cultures and religions whether the likes of Pauline Hanson likes it or not, everybody gets sick not just “Aussies.” Yes there are going to be 457 visa applicants, but it is up to the government to control it, they are the ones that have dropped the ball on it, it is up to us to call them to account.
I also believe that we need so much better than the likes of Pauline Hanson, she is dangerous & divisive, and people like her that are reluctant to check their stats gravitate towards her and this is worrying. I look at Venezuela and it worries me, this was a once great country and the leader has destroyed it, due to his ignorance and greed, ambivalence and disbelief has got America the leader it has now. We need to be vigilant.
Even given BK’s notorious and distinctly unhealthy, not to say worrying neolib nuttiness, immigration is actually a key source of economic growth is a big call, even for someone so tenacious in submitting his CV to mudorc publically via this organ.
As WIKI might add *citation required*.
When those 457 scabs start taking over grundle’s knowledge-policy- palaver – or more likely an even cheaper, and less amendable to reality, algorithm.
Sucks to be quite so surplus to requirements, dunnit?
I recently fell ill in a small country town in Gippsland and was very grateful for the Thai doctor that treated me and the Indian pharmacist that made up my prescription…then come to think of it, they were almost certainly Australians!
The immigrants are the people that are happy to fill in the gaps in many country areas, these areas would otherwise be without medical services, unfortunately too many people focus on the city & urban areas and don’t expand their horizons, many of the gaps are in areas that many people don’t want to live in as it’s too far away from family, the excitement of the city, whatever but the reality is that these areas need these type of medical services, and these have traditionally been the hardest places to get suitable candidates to look after patients from country areas/towns. Australians’ especially those of the One Nation stripe need to get their priorities right and actually stop being so lazy and letting their “leaders'” tell them lie after lie, or unsubstantiated nonsense peddling, and hold them to account for their ignorance and arrogance. They also need to understand that yelling or repeating bogus nonsense hijacked as “facts” doesn’t make these things true, it just makes them look more desperate.