The Liberal Party has missed an opportunity to design a sophisticated migration policy that incorporates demand for labour, housing, infrastructure and energy.

There are growing tensions in the Australian migration system. The Albanese government has chosen to sweep these under the carpet. And, while they presented an opportunity for the Liberal Party to formulate migration policy that differentiated it from the government, so far, its dismal migration policy is aimed simply at inducing One Nation followers back to the Liberal Party.

The Liberal policy approach effectively labels migrants as undesirable people. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has announced the party proposes capping overseas migration to match housing supply levels. He has also indicated that access to some welfare, including the NDIS, would be restricted to Australian citizens, and there would be a heavier emphasis on “Australian values”.

Under the announced Liberal policy, migration levels would be based solely on one new dwelling, one “net” migrant. Helping to meet skill shortages appears no longer to be a criterion for migration, even though it has been the central to it for decades.

As I have written previously, net overseas migration, which is the net loss or gain in a population due to migration, is a very slippery concept and should not be a basis for policy. For example, between 2012 and 2015, net overseas migration of Australian and New Zealand citizens alone fell by 50,000. Did this fluctuation, which is........

© Pearls and Irritations