EDITORIAL: Government can’t ignore immigration anxieties

In the lead up to this year’s election, the subject of immigration was unavoidable.

The unstoppable rise of housing and other living costs made it so.

There was a strong sense from some Australians that they were being squeezed out of their own nation. Some of this feeling was based on misinformation peddled on social media.

But it was an inescapable fact that costs were rising and commutes were getting longer as infrastructure struggled to keep pace with a growing population.

A lot of these fears are being reinforced online

Opposition leader Peter Dutton sought to capitalise on the unease by making it a feature of his doomed campaign, pledging to let 80,000 fewer foreign students study in Australia each year and to reduce permanent migration by 25 per cent.

Meanwhile Labor stressed its “balanced” approach to migration had brought net overseas migration down 31 per cent in the year to September 2024.

And then, for a few months after Labor’s election win, it more or less disappeared as a major issue.

So much so that the Government neglected to release this financial year’s permanent migration target.

But that silence did nothing to calm the unease being felt in some sections of the community.

The events of the weekend proved the unease has fermented into something more toxic.

Anti-immigration marches drew thousands into the streets of capital cities from Sydney to Perth. Most of those who marched were there to express their frustration with a system they believed was no longer working for them. A small contingent were white supremacists with utterly odious views completely out of step with Australian values.

At a caucus meeting on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese told his Labor colleagues that not everyone who marched was a neo-nazi.

“We have to make sure we give people space to move away and to not push them further down that rabbit hole,” he said in response to concerns raised about extremists using the events to recruit people to their ranks.

“A lot of these fears are being reinforced online, and we have challenges with polarisation.”

The Government has now, belatedly, released its net overseas migration target. It will remain unchanged at 185,000 for the current financial year.

It’s understood that number was decided before the weekend’s demonstrations, but only made public in their wake.

Silence wasn’t working out the way the Government had hoped.

But nor will dropping information like this with little to no context or conversation. Australia’s success is built on the toil of its migrants and we will always need sensible, targeted migration if we want that success to continue.

But by stressing to his colleagues the importance of not demonising anti-immigration protesters, Mr Albanese is conceding that some of their concerns are legitimate.

The way to address those concerns is to lead a grown-up conversation with Australians about the kind of nation we want to be.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.