Australia’s teal independents have responded to the Liberal Party’s new migration policy by declaring their support for mass immigration and open borders.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor announced the policy, which includes a legally binding “Australian values test”, in Canberra on Tuesday, but was criticised by anti-immigration voters for refusing to set a migration target.
But six Teal MPs – Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan, Sophie Scamps, Zali Steggall, Nicollete Boele, and Kate Chaney, have all since spoken out about the policy and insisted that Australia’s record high levels of immigration must continue, even though repeated polls show most Aussies want it drastically cut.
Dr Scamps, MP for Mackellar on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, shared a headline from taxpayer-funded pro-multiculturalism broadcaster SBS comparing Mr Taylor’s policy to the White Australia era.
“Stoking fear and blaming migrants for decades of policy failure won’t help anyone,” she wrote.
“Let’s call it for what it is – fear mongering to try and win back One Nation votes.”
Ms Steggall, MP for Warringah, also in Sydney’s north, said Mr Taylor risked “fuelling hateful and divisive narratives”, and declared: “Australia’s diverse, multi-faith, multicultural society is one of our greatest strengths.”
“It is counterproductive to frame migration as a problem when it’s part of the solution,” she wrote on social media.
Dr Ryan, MP for Kooyong in Melbourne, wrote that Mr Taylor’s policy was a “threat” and “risks serious lasting damage to the social fabric”.
“Australia’s long-term demographic and economic interests require sustained, well-managed migration,” she said.
Ms Spender, the MP for Wentworth in Sydney’s east, responded in a lengthy video where she talked about her grandparents fleeing Fascist Italy in the 1930s
“We can’t return to the discriminatory migration policies of the past that override human experience with prejudice,” she said.
Ms Boele, MP for Bradfield in Sydney’s north, accused Mr Taylor of “stoking fear and division”.’
“The Liberal Party’s Trumpian immigration agenda is a step backwards – and does not accord with modern Australia,” she wrote.
Ms Chaney, MP for Curtin in Perth’s west, called Australia a “migration success story”.
“The Coalition’s immigration policy announcement today only distracts from the real work that needs to be done: solving the housing crisis, reducing cost of living pressures and improving long-term planning,” she said.
The teal MPs’ support for mass immigration comes despite record-high net overseas migration of about 1.5 million since Labor came to power, which has pushed up housing and rental prices and exacerbated the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
There were 2.98 million temporary visa holders in Australia as of January 1 – a 4.24% increase on last year’s number – according to official data, and a recent poll found 79% of Australians want net overseas migration to be 100,000 or lower.
Polls conducted last month in Mackellar, Wentworth and Kooyong found One Nation is surging in all three seats, propelled by voters aged 18-34.
Header image: Left, Ms Steggal, Ms Spender and Dr Scamps. Right, Muslims praying in a park in Melbourne (Facebook).
