Publications

DESCRIPTIONS OF WORKING PAPERS - No 11

NationSkilling Migration, Labour and the Law

Mary Crock and Ben Saul, Phillip Ruddock, Stephen Yale-Loehr and
Christoph Hoashi-Erhardt, Susan Martin, B. Lindsay Lowell and Philip Martin,
Graeme Hugo, Ron McCallum, Richard Vann, Robyn Iredale, Margaret Allars.
Edited by Mary Crock and Kerry Lyon

Executive Summary

In a world made ever smaller by the forces of globalisation, the discourse on immigration - and on skilled migration in particular - is no longer the preserve of 'colonised' or 'developing' countries. Advances in technology have put more people on the move today than in any other time in human history. While a distressing number of the world's migrants are involuntary travelers - the victims of wars, famines and oppression - the competition between states to attract skilled migrants has never been greater. In this context, Australia's status as a country built on immigration should give it a competitive advantage. Whether Australia is the first choice for the best, brightest, wealthiest of the world's migrants, however, is doubtful. As a country of immigration, the tendency over many years has been to focus more on quantative than qualitive control. As Cronin notes forcefully(1), Australian immigration is notorious for its 'culture of control' - and has been for years. One by-product of this culture is a spirit of defensiveness and protectionism that does not sit easily with the type of proactive behaviour that is needed if Australia is to 'sell' itself in the immigration marketplace, and so gain maximum benefit from its intake programs.

In November 2000 the Law Council of Australia and the University of Sydney co-hosted a Symposium that brought together a wide variety of people sharing an interest in the role that immigration plays in 'skilling' a nation. This Working Paper collects together some of the key papers delivered at that Conference. The individual contributions reflect the main themes developed over the two days of the Symposium. As it was not possible to include all the papers written for or in conjunction with the event, in this introductory chapter we will try to place the collected papers within the broader context of the symposium. In so doing we will draw on both the published articles and on other written and spoken contributions that were made to the Symposium in session.

The Working Paper looks in Part One at the immigration process, dealing in turn with mechanisms for the selection of permanent migrants; the debate that continues over whether nation building is best achieved through permanent or temporary migration; and the issue distributing skilled migrants across our vast land. Part Two contains papers relating to the employment and/or integration of migrants, tackling both issues that range from labour law, taxation and superannuation laws as they affect transnational employees; to the recognition of overseas qualifications.

1. See Kathryn Cronin 'A Culture of Control: an overview of immigration policy making' in James Jupp and Marie Kabala The Politics of Australian Immigration (Canberra: AGPS, BIR, 1993), 83.