Australia is an open and generous country built on generations of immigration: Scott Morrison Op Ed

17/10/11

This opinion piece originally appeared in The Sunday Herald Sun newspaper on Sunday 16 October 2011. You can read it on-line here .

Australia is an open and generous country built on generations of immigration.

Our immigration programme is revered around the world, as is our success as a nation to create a cohesive society from diverse national backgrounds.

Our diversity is not a license to divide, but an opportunity to contribute.

Each successive wave of immigration has added to our Australian story. More importantly it has reinforced the values that define Australia as one of the oldest liberal democracies in the world. This is what Australia’s image is all about.

Those who have come to Australia have overwhelmingly come in an orderly process through the front door. They have made their application according to the rules that are laid down. They have made their contribution with extraordinary effort, little assistance and great personal sacrifice. They expect others to do the same.

We preserve the legacy of a unified and cohesive nation by protecting the integrity of our immigration programme that has built a successful nation. That is the image I wish to protect.

That is what John Howard was getting at when he said ‘we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’.

The debate about asylum seekers has surfaced because of failed Government policy that has compromised our immigration programme and crashed public confidence. This is why the Rudd Gillard Government has lost the trust of the Australian people.

Don’t blame the debate, look to the reasons for it.

Each year, about 2,500 places under our refugee and humanitarian programme are now determined not by the process we establish to assess more than 50,000 applications we receive for protection from people in refugee camps and other desperate places around the world. Rather, these visas are now provided because someone paid a people smuggler to get on a boat.

That is no way for a serious country that values it’s immigration programme to allow decisions to be made.

Our image is one of a generous country, but not a soft touch.

The places we provide under our resettlement programme are a precious gift. Less than 1% of the world’s 10.4 million refugees will be resettled. Whether you take 5,000 or 50,000 each year – you are only scratching the surface.

It is therefore only reasonable and fair that as a country we seek to triage the need of those we believe we are best able to help.

A government that fails to protect our borders compromises our immigration programme. The Rudd Gillard Government has failed this test of trust every day they have been in office.

This is the real threat to the image we wish to preserve as a nation.