Australia should select permanent skilled migrants for their long-term economic potential.
Skilled migrants tend to be younger, higher-skilled, and earn higher incomes than the typical Australian. Skilled migrants generate a fiscal dividend to the Australian community because they pay more in taxes than they receive in public services and benefits over their lifetimes.
Recent Federal Government decisions have taken Australia in the wrong direction. They have shifted the composition of Australia’s permanent skilled visas away from categories with a track record of selecting younger, skilled migrants best placed to succeed in Australia.
Today, a growing share of permanent skilled visas are allocated to boosting business investment and to the unproven Global Talent program. These changes should be reversed.
Brendan Coates
Will Mackey
While you’re here…
Grattan Institute is an independent not-for-profit think tank. We don’t take money from political parties or vested interests. Yet we believe in free access to information. All our research is available online, so that more people can benefit from our work.
Which is why we rely on donations from readers like you, so that we can continue our nation-changing research without fear or favour. Your support enables Grattan to improve the lives of all Australians.
Donate now.
Danielle Wood – CEO
