Immigration debate looms as flashpoint in election

A potential use of immigration as a tactic in the upcoming federal election could lead to "dangerous conclusions", a migration expert warns. Login or signup to continue reading President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a tough-on-immigration stance, including promising mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to slash migration as a means to ease housing pressures, suggesting the issue could be debated hotly in the Australian election due by May 2025.

"The migration issues there (the US) were very real in the election and I think they're going to be real in the upcoming election here, because this is just a disaster," Mr Dutton told Nine's Today show on Friday. Australians will likely be asked if they are better off under a Labor government, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had promised they would be. Persistent inflation and high interest rates have caused households financial pain.



When people had a low level of information combined with high bias because of cost-of-living pressures, it could lead to "dangerous conclusions", University of Sydney Associate Professor Anna Boucher said. "It's going to be really important that the government is clear in its information to the public about where the genuine pressures come from, what it's doing to alleviate them, and and how this isn't caused (solely) by migration," she told AAP. Dr Boucher said she was shocked by how little inter-ethnic migration solidarity there was.

"It seems that once people are here for a generation or so, they often quickly forget about their own plight," she said. "I'm sure that will be something that the Liberal Party will factor into its political equation." The Republican party made significant gains in securing the support of Hispanic voters, despite harsh rhetoric directed to migrants from those communities.

Cabinet minister Bill Shorten said while Australia wanted to protect its borders against "crooks and bad people" the country didn't share the same land border challenge as the US. "I'm not quite sure it's an important issue here, but the heat on those border states in America is just red hot," he told ABC radio. Economists, as well as the Reserve Bank of Australia and Treasury, have warned of the adverse effects the incoming president's promises of widespread tariffs of up to 20 per cent and higher levies on Chinese imports would have on the Australian economy.

During Mr Trump's last presidency, Australia managed to score an exemption from steel tariffs by successfully arguing the two countries' special relationship. Mr Albanese described his conversation with Mr Trump as "warm" and "engaging". "We spoke about the common interests that we have, Australia and the United States are great friends and we reaffirmed that," he told Nova Sydney.

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