Huy Truong, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Thrive Refugee Enterprise

The recent discussion on cutting permanent migration and the humanitarian program has raised a strong sense of dejavu – and not in a good way.

I was studying in the US in 1997 when One Nation and its warnings about ‘being swamped’ by Asians and need to cut migration first appeared in the public and political discourse.  I have to say, as an Asian Australian refugee, it was incredibly confronting and uncomfortable. Not surprisingly, I was asked by a number of Americans and other nationalities for my response and encouragement to remain in the US after graduation.

In the end, I chose to come back home to Australia as I am Australian and its where my heart lies. Afterall, it was Australia under the Fraser Government that provided refuge and opportunity to tens of thousands of Vietnamese post the Vietnam war.

Despite the attempts of One Nation and the subsequent events around Tampa and Children Overboard, Australia has continued its world class humanitarian program as well as becoming much more strategic about its migration policy to ensure we have access to the required skills and capital for Australia to prosper. Whilst there is a lot we can continue to improve on, the economic and humanitarian case for migration has had strong bipartisan support.

The discussion around cutting immigration by 20% and the associated reduction in our humanitarian program, is the biggest challenge to community perception of migrants and consequences for policy making in over 20 years.

Australia is undoubtedly facing a number of critical challenges including but not limited to housing, infrastructure congestion, cost of living, pressure on welfare and social services, cost and transition of energy. To lay blame at the feet of migrants and refugees is not only inaccurate and unjust, but could be harmful to our national interest in a global competition for skills and capital. The solution is not as simple as dramatically reducing our migrant and refugee intake, but rather the critical task of strategic policy reform that allows our economy and society to grow in a more sustainable way including more affordable housing and cleaner energy.

At a macro level, it is migration and the global demand for Australian commodities that has ensured that Australia has remained out of recession for nearly 3 decades – particularly as productivity growth has slowed. Indeed, the numbers highlight that Australia has endured per capita recessions in this period, yet because our population has grown (from net migration), our economy has prospered.

At a more micro level, let’s consider the people that largely operate our care economy – healthcare, aged care, disability care. Ask yourself whether your interaction with the care sectors have included a migrant. I would go so far to say that without migration at the levels we have experienced, those care sectors would at best provide a much lower level of service or at worst have become completely unworkable. I can make the same observations around higher education, small business and the tech sectors.

Migrants (and refugees) have and will continue to be a major contributor to addressing the challenges highlighted earlier (through their skills and capital) and in doing so continue to improve Australia's prospertiy and lifestyle. Since 1945, close to 10 million migrants have moved from all parts of the globe to start a new life in Australia, with many escaping adverse conditions such as wars. With them they brought families, innovation, a work ethic and determination to make a social and economic contribution to this country. That said, we can and need to better harness this migration and refugee talent to help us build more houses and infrastructure, care for more people and pay their share of taxes which takes pressure off existing tax payer base.

The economic and humanitarian case for migration is stronger today than at any time in history.

Economically, the global competition for talent and skills is real and intensifying. Many countries around the world have and continue to see migration as a key plank of their economic and infrastructure development. Whether it’s the US and attracting migrants to Silicon Valley or a more recent example of the UK identifying refugees who have nursing skills; there has and will continue to be competition amongst countries to attract the best and brightest. The best and brightest have agency and choice in which countries they choose to migrate to. They seek acceptance, opportunity and to make a contribution to their new country and home.  

From a humanitarian perspective, the number of displaced people globally currently sits at 114m. Displacement typically arise from political and religious persecution, civil war and natural disasters. Host countries who neighbour these areas of conflict and disasters have no choice but to take in these displaced people. Top host countries such as Iran, Turkey, Columbia and in our region, Bangladesh, host millions of displaced people. For them to not host would be unfathomable yet these countries face enormous financial and social pressure to do so. Australia has the ‘geographical fortune’ of not being a neighboring host country, yet we are the 13th largest economy in the world. We therefore have a responsibility to play our role – both in terms of assisting these neighboring countries with financial support to host these millions of displaced people as well as taking on our share of refugees to resettle in Australia. The current resettlement program of approx. 20,000 refugees is a drop in the ocean of 110m but demonstrates our commitment to this global challenge. It’s our resettlement programs and pledges of support to host countries that gives us a seat at the table to be part of global and regional solutions – including stopping people smuggling and dangerous boat journeys to Australia.

There is no doubt we can do better in our approach to migration and refugees. We can be more strategic in identifying the right skills and certainly more effective in achieving resettlement and economic participation outcomes. Through my work at Thrive Refugee Enterprise (an NGO dedicated to economic participation of refugees to enable more effective settlement and contribution back to Australia) and insights from my broader migration and refugee activities, there are significant opportunities for reform such that the economic and cultural benefits of migration and our refugee program can be accelerated and increased. The question we as a country should be asking is how does Australia become better ‘match fit’ for growth as opposed to reducing our ambition because it’s all too hard. Cutting back may very well mean we miss a future Frank Lowy (Westfield), Harry Triguboff (Meriton Apartments), the late Victor Chang (pioneer of Heart transplants), Anh Do (entertainer) or Usman Khawaja (Australian cricketer).

Ends

Huy Truong is also a Board member of the Centre for Policy Development; Board member for the Migrant Justice Institute; Member of Settlement Advisory Council for Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Multi-Cultural Affairs; Chair of the Refugee Economic Participation Sub Committee; and Member of the Australian Delegation to the UN Global Refugee Forum.