A Fresh Approach !

Labor's home affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally rocked opposition ranks when she wrote  an opinion piece for the Sun Herald suggesting that Australia needed to have another look at our immigration policy in light of the Coronavirus outbreak.   She suggested that it should be Australians who get the first go at jobs as the recovery strengthens.

This seems to suggest that the immigration intake would be lower under Labor and that provoked sharp differences of policy argument across the party's different political factions.  Some worried that the home affairs spokeswoman was freelancing with policy aimed at more conservative voters.

Kristina Keneally is a refreshing voice which usually brings a questioning approach to traditional Labor dogma.  The economic health of the nation changes from time to time and policy must change with it.  This Coronavirus not only brought change to Australia, it changed the entire world and how we deal with immigration needs to change accordingly.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese wisely did not respond to a request for comment.  Immigration  was put on hold when the virus was recognised as a pandemic and it has been  a contentious issue in all the years since the end of the second world war.  We are probably the nation which has been most successful in attracting immigrants from the four corners of the world and integrating them into the cohesive structure that is Australia today.

One of the issues causing angst is the temporary visa system.  It is claimed that many employers  use this to avoid hiring local workers and were exploiting people whose visa status and security depended  on their employer.  This often manifests itself in wage theft as the workers are artificially bound to their employer.

Another area that fringes immigration is the issue of work permits to young people taking working holidays in Australia.  Traditionally, they provide the itinerant labour necessary to bring in the harvest, moving from area to area as the work becomes available.  When work permits were frozen during the lockdown the effect was immediate in country areas.  In many areas the crops remained unpicked simply because the labour was not available to undertake the task.

Kristina Keneally has done the nation a service by opening the debate on immigration.  It is too important to be confined within the shackles of politics.  All aspects of opinion need input, even though some may use it as " dog whistling " to mask their true intent.  It is public opinion that usually determines how issues are decided in the political sphere !