Opinion & Commentary
Lucky country for sale
The Australian government has stepped up immigration and we continue our generous intake of genuine refugees. Both is in the national interest. Yet, public opinion has turned sceptical about mass immigration and is nervous about refugees. We appear to have been side-tracked by Tampa and the consequences into something of a political impasse which needs to be addressed by leadership and imaginative policies.
One way of moving forward would be to supplement the administrative points system of migrant selection with other selection procedures, for example a lottery of settlement rights, similar to the US Green Card lotteries, and annual auctions of migrant visas.
A generation ago, Australia was a distant place with a slow-moving economy and a country that believed it had to populate or perish. But now we are, for many skilled people from Switzerland to Shanghai, the most desirable country in which to work and live. In the age of the jetliner, the internet and other space-bridging innovations, we offer attractive assets, such as a dynamic economy, a stable, open society and a good climate. The demand for the right to settle in Australia far exceeds our absorption capacity for enterprising people. Many are prepared to pay a price to join, as the high fees paid to people smugglers and providers of fake local marriage partners indicate.
The case can be made for the Australian government to announce an annual quota of settlement visas that go to the highest bidders, as long as these meet basic health, security and English-language criteria. It should be made clear that a successful bid does not confer access to public welfare, except schooling the children, until the bidders have paid income taxes for five years. The revenue from the auctions should go to general revenue or tax rebates.
An auction system has a number of mighty advantages:
First, the newcomers would compensate the residents for sharing Australia’s attractive social and natural environment. Australians do possess valuable shared assets, ranging from the rule of law, a fairly secure society and a decent democracy to tremendous cultural and environmental amenities and substantial infrastructures. The residents and some of their forebears have sacrificed effort and taxes to cultivate this collective property, and they have earned the right to exclude outsiders––just as you are entitled to exclude outsiders from enjoying your own private property. A modicum of compensation would change the psychology of the immigration debate and win electoral support for more immigration.
Second, auctions would advertise the fact that Australia is again open to enterprising people who want to invest their money and skills. It would change the impression that ambitious, self-reliant applicants need not apply to come here and would give visibility and substance to the present shift in migrant selection to more skilled people. People who make an upfront investment to join the club normally are committed to make it flourish.
Auctions would also undercut the criminal and dangerous business of the people smugglers. Even economists who know all the reasons for not giving governments a monopoly will agree that migrant selection is a matter for public action and the control of our borders is the task of elected governments. Auctions would also protect politicians and administrators to a considerable extent from accusations of corruption or selecting the ‘wrong’ newcomers.
The auction system offers great flexibility. Thus, one could credit half the tertiary fees paid for study in Australia as a part of the bid price. Employers or relatives could reveal their preferences by funding certain auction bids. The scheme could also offer refugee advocates the opportunity to do something practical, rather than acting merely as agitating lobbyists. They could raise money to finance the intake of their preferred category of refugee, and the government might make donations to such fund raising tax deductible.
The movements of the auction price from year to year would reveal for all to see how people around the world value the privilege of living in Australia. This would feed back quality information and serve as an incentive to make this country even more attractive.
Can this work? Some countries run business migration programmes that come close to what I have in mind. Is it ethical to sell the right to settle in Australia? Most decidedly so when it comes to allocating a scarce and valuable opportunity, such as working and living here.
Above all, worldwide advertising of such auctions would signal that this is an innovative and open community, which invites others to join in and try their luck. Australia has a proud record of immigration, successful integration, resilience, civility and–––lately––economic prowess. We should not allow ourselves to be pushed on the back foot by doomsayers and the guilt industry, but rather have the confidence to reach out and invite enterprising newcomers.
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About the Author:
Professor Wolfgang Kasper is Senior Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies. His book, Sustainable Immigration and Cultural Integration was published by CIS.
