Australia’s annual intake of permanent migrants has fallen to the lowest level since 2007 under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull government, the latest migration data reveals.
Despite the cap remaining at 190,000 in the last financial year, the actual intake fell to 163,000, SBS reported.
Australia took in 20,000 fewer permanent migrants than in the previous financial year, mostly thanks to a 12,000 cut in skilled visa places and an 8,000 cut in family visas.
Business groups have responded with shock and disappointment, with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry describing the fall in skilled migration as a “crisis”, particularly for regional employers.
The plunge in annual numbers was already anticipated, after Home Affairs officials told a Senate inquiry there had been a substantial reduction in the intake of skilled migrants and their families, due to tougher vetting procedures using new database technology.
“We’re not going to allow people in where there’s a fraudulent application, where there’s dodgy information being provided,” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told reporters in Queensland on Friday.
The latest figures for the 2017-18 financial year, which ended on July 1, show the skilled stream fell by 12,468 places to just 11,099 this year.
But the largest fall in percentage terms was in the family stream, which was cut by almost 15% to 47,732 places.
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