Prime Minister Scott Morrison has failed to win over state and territory leaders on planned cuts to Australia’s immigration levels, with bigger and better infrastructure plans pointed out by many as the proper solution to congestion.
Morrison met with premiers and chief ministers from each of Australia’s states and territories in Adelaide on Wednesday, for the latest meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).
Going into the COAG meeting, only New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian had indicated she was on board with Morrison’s proposal to cut Australia’s migration cap from 190,000 to 160,000 per annum.
By the end of the COAG meeting, the PM had not strengthened his numbers.
“This is an ongoing item on the COAG agenda,” Morrison told press after the meeting. “Population management is a core task of all the governments you see represented here, including local government.
“And so this will be an ongoing issue and the next decision that has to be made, at least in terms of immigration, is what the annual intake cap will be for the 2019-20 year. That decision is taken in the Budget every year.”
Before the meeting, Berejiklian had welcomed the idea of a “breather” on immigration for New South Wales, while infrastructure catches up, particularly to Sydney’s rapid population growth.
But the Morrison Government’s pitch to cut the immigration cap by 30,000 has yet to win over any other state or territory leaders, with some arguing they would like to see more migrants arrive in their region.
“I think it’s very clear now that we have a very different approach to issues regarding population state by state,” South Australian premier Steven Marshall said.
“There is no cookie cutter approach. And I think what we can do now is all work collaboratively towards a good strategy, a positive strategy, which is going to ensure that we get population growth exactly where it’s needed in Australia going forward.”
“We want more people to call the Northern Territory home,” the NT’s chief minister Michael Gunner added. “More people equals more jobs. This goes to having a vision for this nation, to having a better, stronger, more resilient diversified economy.”
Despite Morrison failing to win support for his immigration cap plan, the COAG parties did agree to develop a framework for national population and planning.
Development of the framework will begin in February 2019, at the next Treasurer’s Forum.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said the meeting was a positive one, from the perspective of how governments can work together to provide the infrastructure needed to manage continued population growth.
“I think today we’ve agreed on the clearest link ever between a proper population policy and a proper conversation and agreements about the infrastructure that we need,” Andrews said.
“We’ve agreed today in the clearest terms perhaps ever between state, territory and the national government that infrastructure and managing population growth are essentially the same issue.”