Media Release

Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has this week called for a cut to ‘mass migration’ and for visas to be limited to one-half of the jobs generated annually in Australia, launching an online petition on the steps of Parliament House with members of the Jewish and Sikh communities, David Adler and Amar Singh.

“For me this started off as an issue about the economy, but if there was any doubt in my mind that we shouldn’t be moving aggressively on this issue, then recent events reinforce that,” Mr Katter said.

“Social Services Minister Christian Porter has said that welfare is exploding and that it will rise from $157bn a year (a quarter the Federal budget) to $277bn a year (nearly half the Federal budget) within a decade.

“But he hasn’t said where the explosion is coming from – well I’m pinning the tale on the donkey.

“There are over 620,000 visas being issued in Australia each year but there are only 200,000 jobs created. On top of that there are around 200,000 school leavers and young people seeking jobs (not including tourist visas).

“That means that over 800,000 people are chasing only 200,000 jobs.

“The visa entrants are almost all from low wage countries, they therefore will get preference over Australians, so it is Australians that are forced onto welfare queues.”

But Mr Katter was concerned to ensure that persecuted minorities were not excluded from migration numbers.

“We need to have an immigration policy that allows for persecuted minorities, such as the Sikhs, where 80,000 were murdered in India in just one year.

“An attack upon people peacefully going to Church (a Synagogue) last weekend, police raids on terrorists in Sydney just this week and three people murdered by terrorists this year – is absolute proof of the failure of mass migration.”

Mr Katter said that the failure of Arab countries to take in refugees was also a telling sign.

“Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Kuwait and arguably other Arab countries have taken no refugees in the current crisis, yet countries like France have foolishly taken in large numbers.”

Mr Katter’s petition states that the maximum quota of visas for people coming into Australia should be one-half of the jobs generated annually (outside of backpackers and tourism). This would mean a drop in the number of people coming to Australia from over 650,000 to around 100,000 per year.

Those wishing to sign the petition “Cut mass migration – visas in line with job creation” should visit change.org:

https://www.change.org/p/australian-parliament-cut-mass-migration-visas-in-line-with-job-creation-e41290e4-8025-430a-ad23-f29239d70cbc