The federal opposition will oppose Labor’s plan to introduce a visa lottery that would allow 3000 workers from the Pacific to move to Australia and apply for permanent residency.
The plan, unveiled in February, is similar to the United States’ “green card” system and is designed to strengthen ties between Australia and its Pacific island neighbours.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said Australia had had a bipartisan, non-discriminatory immigration program for decades.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The government had hoped the scheme would start on July 1, but the Coalition’s decision means Labor will need support from the Greens and two members of the crossbench to pass the laws.
Applicants would have to meet health, character and English proficiency tests and be aged between 18 and 45. They would also need to secure a job in Australia.
The scheme would be open to applicants from East Timor (Timor-Leste), as well as Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the Coalition supported a Pacific Engagement Visa in principle, but would not back legislation that established a lottery scheme for Australia’s immigration system, with an attached fee mechanism. The fee for the lottery is expected to be about $25.
Tehan said once a lottery was established, it could easily be expanded and pointed out that Australia had had a bipartisan, non-discriminatory immigration program for decades.
“Australia’s immigration policy should target young, highly skilled migrants who can make an economic contribution to our country and temporary migrants who make an economic contribution by addressing workforce shortages,” he said.
“Australian citizenship is too important to be decided by pulling a name out of a hat. Migrants to this nation should be incentivised to come for work, not to access the full range of social security benefits and Medicare.”
Tehan argued the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme had been successful and could be altered to offer a pathway to permanency.
The lottery could also affect remittances to workers’ families in Pacific island nations as under the green card system, successful applicants could potentially bring their immediate family – meaning less money would be sent to their country of origin.
Comment was sought from the Greens.
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