Australia to Create 50-Year Immigration Plan
The Australian government is preparing a 50-year immigration plan to ensure that future intakes take into account a wide range of long-term issues such as national security, climate change, and water needs.
Andrew Metcalfe, the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, said, "In terms of the future, we are trying to lift ourselves away from year-to-year decisions to a 50-year vision.... We want to ensure our skilled migration programs are responding to longer-term skill needs which cannot be addressed through domestic training and skills development."
During the speech yesterday in Canberra, Mr. Metcalfe went on to say, "The question then is how we can best address shorter-term labour market requirements … It will be important that the skilled migrants we choose are not only young and healthy but also have a high level of education, language proficiency and other skills. This will ensure that skilled migration contributes both to labour force growth and to the productivity of our labour force."
Australia is not the first nation to look at long-term immigration policy, but it is the first to take into account the use of natural resources. The island nation is currently in the midst of a ten year drought and severe water restrictions are in place across the country. As America's water tables continue to deplete we might find ourselves in a position similar to Australia's.
Click here to read more about this sensible approach to long-term immigration planning.