Just how many people move to Australia every year? It seems straightforward, but ANU migration researcher (Henry Sherrell) and Inside Story contributing editor (Peter Mares) find that it is anything but.
Towards the end of ABC TV’s special “Sovereign Borders“ edition of Q&A last week came an intriguing but frustrating back-and-forth about the number of migrants Australia welcomes each year.
The key protagonists were Shen Narayanasamy, GetUp’s human rights campaign director, and retired general Jim Molan, co-author of the Coalition’s refugee and asylum policy and Tony Abbott’s former special envoy for Operation Sovereign Borders.
As the transcript reveals, the two speakers offered up very different numbers for Australia’s annual migration intake: