Australian voters support Dutton’s push to reduce migrant intake

The majority of Australians would prefer a lower immigration rate, supporting Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s push to reduce the intake through tougher vetting, The Australian has reported.

In an exclusive Newspoll conducted for the newspaper, 56 per cent of Australian voters said that they believed the existing annual migration cap of 190,000 was too high, 28 per cent think it is at the right level and 10 per cent considered it too low.  A similar number believed white South African farmers exposed to violence and discrimination in their homeland should be afforded the same status by Australia as asylum-seekers from other parts of the world.

Dutton reportedly proposed cutting the annual immigration intake by 20,000 to cabinet colleagues last year, but Malcolm Turnbull dismissed the idea. The proposal was to reduce the annual migration number from 190,000 to 170,000. 

Dutton has made no secret of his political ambitions and his desire to be prime minister one day. While taking a stance on immigration can be risky business — often accompanied with accusations of racism — Dutton has  essentially told the public, you may not like me, but at least you know what I stand for.

He’s joined by a small group of politicians who are making immigration a big issue, including former PM Tony Abbott and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Australian businessman Dick Smith, a long-time supporter of an ‘Australia first’ way of thinking, told 2GB in March that Australia “as we know it” would not survive if immigration continued at the current rate.

“I can tell everyone who’s listening, we have total control,” he has said. “If we put the immigration level back to 70,000 a year, which is still very high by world standards … you’d end up stabilising our population not going to these ridiculous increases.”

The latest immigration issue to make headlines is Dutton’s sympathy for the plight for white South African farmers, who he claims are being “persecuted” in their own country.

The South African government has denied there’s any truth to the claim, and some Australian political commentators branded him “racist” for apparently prioritising white migrants over muslim and Middle-Eastern migrants. It led Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to write to South Africa to clarify Australia’s stance on the issue and deny there was interest in taking on a selection of farmers and their families. 

Now, Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge has confirmed Australia is likely to take in a number of farmers who applied using the humanitarian program. According to Sky News, he said they are “facing persecution” at home and will suffer if not welcomed to Australia.

What do you think? Should the government cut the annual immigration intake?