HOWEVER … it appears the pivot to Indians (along with Chinese) migrants is likely adding to Australia’s chronic low wage growth.
HOW GOOD WAS AUSTRALIA?
IT’s just not cricket!
PRIOR to the floodgates of high immigration and visa manipulation AND Visa Workers by the HOWARD GOVT in the late 1990s we had very good wages and conditions in Australia …
AND … Earlier this year (2019), Alan Fels – the chair of the Migrant Workers Taskforce – described wage theft as “widespread and systematic”, and estimated that one-third of international students are being underpaid, typically by migrant employers of the same nationality:
-Allan Fels believed one third of international students were exploited
-with an unpaid wages bill in the Billions; up to 145,000 students on working visas underpaid by employers
-that exploitation of international students by businesses owned by migrants from the same ethnic group was a particular problem
AND … with the May 2019 Election outcome … Australian Workers lost out again!
‘I was able to learn more about Australian culture’: the Cheetahs Sports Club at Parramatta Park, in Sydney’s west, is an important ‘gateway’ for Indians in Australia. Picture: Ryan Osland
Indian migrants drive “avalanche of citizenship applications”
By Leith van Onselen in Immigration
JANUARY 10 2020
Indians are destined to become Australia’s largest migrant group, dominating citizenship applications in 2019:
Indian migrants are driving a surge in citizenship as a record 211,723 people won the right to call Australia home in 2019, a 120 per cent increase on the previous year.
India emerged as the top source of Australian citizenship, for the sixth consecutive year, ahead of Britain and China.
More than 28,470 Indian-born migrants pledged allegiance to Australia in 2018-19…
The avalanche of citizenship applications from India also corresponded with a strong rise in the number of people acquiring permanent residency under the skilled migration program…
Australia’s Indian diaspora is fast becoming the new face of the country’s migration story in 2020. Indians are now the third-largest migrant group in Australia and are on track to overtake Britons and Chinese…
Australia’s Indian-born population expanded at 10.7 per cent a year on average between 2006 and 2016.
Indian-born migrants topped the list of visa recipients by country under the annual permanent immigration program, and the number of Indian-born migrants obtaining Australian citizenship in 2018-19 soared by 60 per cent, compared with 2017-18. In 2019, the largest source of migrants to Australia were from India, with 33,611 places under the country’s permanent migration program going to Indian citizens.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistic’s (ABS) latest Personal Income of Migrants survey for 2016-17, ‘skilled’ migrants from India are fairly low paid (but earn more than Chinese, Koreans and Nepalese), earning a median income of just $56,539 in 2016-17:
Thus, the pivot to Indians (along with Chinese) migrants is likely adding to Australia’s chronic low wage growth.
Leith Van Onselen
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN:
‘Network effect’ behind Indian surge in taking Australian citizenship
- By KIERAN GAIR
- JANUARY 9, 2020
- 224 COMMENTS
Indian migrants are driving a surge in citizenship as a record 211,723 people won the right to call Australia home in 2019, a 120 per cent increase on the previous year.
India emerged as the top source of Australian citizenship, for the sixth consecutive year, ahead of Britain and China.
More than 28,470 Indian-born migrants pledged allegiance to Australia in 2018-19.
The latest figures from the Department of Home Affairs reveal that 13,364 Britons acquired Australian citizenship between July 2018 and June last year, while 7974 Chinese people become citizens in the same period.
The avalanche of citizenship applications from India also corresponded with a strong rise in the number of people acquiring permanent residency under the skilled migration program.
Vivek Makhija, who lives in Cherrybrook in Sydney’s northwest, is just one of the 500,000 Indian-born people residing in Australia. After marrying his wife, Anupam, who became a citizen in 2007, raising two children and spending 17 years climbing the ranks of the Commonwealth Bank, he said it was finally time to become “a true Aussie”.READ MORE:Pipeline of citizen hopefuls dries up|Migrant drain on economy a myth|‘Step up’ face data checks at borders|Malaysia, China top migrant ‘red flag’ list
“I’m starting the citizenship process now because I don’t really have any links to India any more and there’s a system here that works,” he said. “The future for my children is much brighter and better here, the education is great, the lifestyle is great, and I don’t feel like I am an outsider.”
Mr Makhija said the value Australians placed on “mateship” was priceless. “People look after each other in Australia,” he said. “The bushfires are an example of that.”
Australia’s Indian diaspora is fast becoming the new face of the country’s migration story in 2020. Indians are now the third-largest migrant group in Australia and are on track to overtake Britons and Chinese.
Anna Boucher, an associate professor at the University of Sydney, said many migrants were in Australia for 10 years before getting citizenship.
“The average migrant is now making two visa steps before getting permanent residency, and then you have to wait at least three to four years before applying for citizenship,” she said. “International students from India started to arrive about a decade ago, so it makes sense that we are seeing a growth in Indian-born people becoming citizens.”
Professor Boucher also said a big drawcard for Indian-born migrants was “the network effect”.
“When people from certain communities and cities settle here, it has a magnet effect as well,” she said. “The Commonwealth and the language link is another reason Indian permanent residents might choose to become citizens.”
At the Cheetahs Sports Club in Parramatta, in Sydney’s west, the network effect theory is played out in real time almost every day.
Balaji Govindarajan, 37, obtained his Australian citizenship just three months ago after moving to Sydney in 2013 as a skilled migrant, and said the Cheetahs served as a “gateway” to understanding Australian culture.
“I saw a little India in Parramatta,” he told The Australian.
“I joined the Cheetahs because it was a way to meet more Indian people and I didn’t feel like I was a foreigner.
“I was able to learn more about Australian culture and the cricketing community really expanded my horizons.”
Australia’s Indian-born population expanded at 10.7 per cent a year on average between 2006 and 2016. Indian-born migrants topped the list of visa recipients by country under the annual permanent immigration program, and the number of Indian-born migrants obtaining Australian citizenship in 2018-19 soared by 60 per cent, compared with 2017-18. In 2019, the largest source of migrants to Australia were from India, with 33,611 places under the country’s permanent migration program going to Indian citizens.
It marked the seventh year in a row that India outstripped China and Britain as Australia’s primary source of migrants, with the vast bulk of places given to Indian citizens under the “skilled” stream.
SOURCE: THE AUSTRALIAN:
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