After the expense of battling with COVID-19, Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced a pre-election budget cash splash on Tuesday which is an ideological break from surplus-focused Liberal party values, leading analysts to say it is “Whitlam-esque” and other headlines to wonder if Frydenberg has found “the money tree”. Despite greater spending, however, the budget disappointed immigrants who have interests and loved ones abroad. On Wednesday, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with representatives of the multicultural press to explain how the budget’s national offerings will offset their disappointment.
The government views the policy of closed borders as important to “keep Australia safe and the economy moving forward” and opening them “won’t be sensible or safe to do for a period of time”, Mr Morrison said. Asked about budget assumptions that “international travel will not return fully for more than a year” as being conservative, Mr Morrison said that “when the Treasury seems to make estimates it has to make some assumptions”.
“Please do not confuse assumptions with government policies and government forecasts when things might or might not occur,” he said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic is worst than it was a year ago but Australia has been successful because of its closed border policy, hence it is important for this security to be maintained.
Mr Morrison did not rule out a more flexible program in the future should the situation allow and would look at whether “vaccinated Australians are able to leave the country and return under different quarantine arrangements” though no state or territory has at this time agreed to this.
Mr Morrison did not rule out a more flexible program in the future should the situation allow and would look at whether “vaccinated Australians are able to leave the country and return under different quarantine arrangements” though no state or territory has at this time agreed to this.
“We are conscious of how we accommodate and mitigate the impacts of being unable to bring more people into the country and not allowing Australians to leave,” said Mr Morrison, stressing that the “immediate focus” was not on opening borders.
“I can understand the difficulty there is in not being able to see parents and family who are overseas, particularly if you have young children. We all understand that. But the reality is we are living in the worst pandemic of the century,” said the Prime Minister and stated that the borders will stay closed for as long as needed “to keep Australia safe and the economy moving forward.”
Mr Morrison was interested in showcasing other offerings available to multicultural communities within Australia via the new budget and ways in which to mitigate the impact of not being able to bring more people into the country.
He said that “population growth and migration growth has been an important part of the immigration story” and a “key reason for our prosperity” and the recovery plan is focused on leaning inwards in the absence of immigration. As such, with hospitality workers and international students not returning earlier than July 2022, Mr Morrison said that work rights have been extended from to 20 to 40 hours. “This is fortunate for students who have remained in Australia,” he said, adding that the numbers are larger than expected.
Asked about the return of international students, Mr Morrison said that it is not going to happen in a “binary way”. “I’d like to see students coming back but not all in one hit because that could be very dangerous,” he said.
READ MORE: This year’s Budget “banking on” Australia opening its borders in 2022
Regarding the budget’s offerings to women, particularly migrant women, Mr Morrison pointed to measures to help migrant entrepreneurs, those exposed to violence with measures to protect them, ensure their physical safety as well as encourage women entrepreneurs via the measures created to help small businesses. He also indicated the support for women via money benchmarked for aged care support.
“Australia’s migrant communities are going to play an increasing role in meeting the care needs of communities,” Mr Morrison said.
The press of emerging communities were particularly interested in trade and tension between Australia and China. Mr Morrison said that Australia will “continue to engage, be open to engagement and be open to dialogue and enjoy a positive people to people relationship with China, and I think we enjoy an important business to business relationship with China,” he said, adding however that Australia is also diversifying its markets.
