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Along with 鈥淕et Brexit Done鈥� and 鈥渙ven-ready,鈥� few soundbites have been as ubiquitous in Boris Johnson鈥檚 recent rhetoric than 鈥淎ustralian听points-based system.鈥� In practical terms, it refers to a migration system organised around assigning 鈥榩oints鈥� to desirable professional skills. In political terms, the phrase stands in for taking back control of Britain鈥檚 borders. Today鈥檚 announcement of new visas for 鈥榟ighly-skilled鈥� migrants is billed as the first step in this听Australian听system鈥檚 implementation in Britain.

Recently,听Priti Patel made the (spurious) claim听that when the British public voted to leave the EU in 2016, it voted for the introduction of an听Australian听system.听Despite criticism from the government鈥檚 own Migration Advisory Committee,听it remains committed to the term, perhaps because focus groups before the election showed that an 鈥楢ustralian鈥� system polled well. With its refugee detention camps and historical 鈥榃hite Australia鈥� migration policy (only abolished in 1973), the antipodes evoke the exclusion of non-Anglo migrants.

Despite this positioning as a panacea to free movement, a number of commentators have pointed out that far from cutting migration, in Australia a points-based system听has been a tool of immigration growth.

Maintained by both right and left-wing governments since the 1990s, the system aims to attract large numbers of skilled migrants from all over the world. The majority of these migrants are young and highly-trained, counter-balancing the costs of an ageing听Australian听population and contributing to a rapid increase in GDP per capita. This has resulted in higher net migration, proportional to population, than in the UK.

At the same time, it has fostered greater cultural diversity as migrants鈥� skills supersede their country of origin. Indeed, while Boris Johnson has been happy to trumpet the 鈥榗ontrol鈥� an听Australian听system will give Britain over its borders,听sotto voce听he has acknowledged that the听Australian听system could mean听Australian-style migratory growth, something sure to please a nervous business sector.听The proposals announced today, whereby would-be migrants would need to prove a number of skills as well as produce a job offer to migrate to Britain,听have worried businesses; however, the government is yet to confirm details of a planned 鈥榥on-sponsored鈥� branch of the points-based system that it argues would facilitate flexible migration based on perceived need.

There are further ironies embedded in the Tory embrace of an听Australian听system. Just as Britain鈥檚 conservative government takes it up, Australia鈥檚 right-wing Liberal-National Coalition government is questioning its commitment to the system. As elsewhere,听Australian听politics has seen rising xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment in recent years.听Coalition electoral success has depended on fending off the threat of the far-right One Nation party by co-opting its claims that migration is a problem.

One weapon in this fight is a continued, hard-line commitment to refugee detention in offshore camps despite the听human rights abuses rampant in this system. Another is increasing governmental criticism of an economy based on migratory growth.

In Australia, this shift has manifested in an embrace of the rhetoric of British migration control under Theresa May, with evocations of hostile environment policies. In 2017, responsibility for immigration, national security and law enforcement鈥攑reviously managed in separate civil service departments鈥攚as merged into a new 鈥榮uper-ministry鈥� called the Department of Home Affairs. Harking back to old-fashioned 鈥業nterior鈥� ministries, this shift also evoked Britain鈥檚 Home Office and its anti-migrant policies under May.

The听Australian听Minister for Home Affairs is Peter Dutton, from the hard-right flank of the Coalition government. Much like May and Phillip Hammond, Dutton has engaged in a long battle with his own party鈥檚 treasurers in calling for a cut in immigration. Since Dutton鈥檚 appointment, the points-based system has come under sustained attack,听with a migration cap introduced in March last year听designed to cut numbers from 190,000 per year to 160,000. While the decrease of 30,000 may seem largely symbolic, it telegraphs to the Coalition鈥檚 supporters that Australia cannot continue its high-migration path.

What does it mean that the British government is championing an听Australian听system just as their antipodean political-equivalents are questioning it? On the one hand, it speaks to a British-Australian听policy carousel, where the dominant right-wing parties in听both countries borrow听from one another鈥檚 鈥渂order control鈥� toolkits. That these disparate tools are treated as interchangeable speaks to the lack of coherence in migration policy in either hemisphere.

On the other, this听carousel highlights the contradictions within the migration policies of both British Tory and听Australian听Coalition governments. Both governments define themselves as pro-business and pro-free trade, positions that arguably militate against migration caps. As听a recent BBC Newsnight听discussion of the听Australian听system pointed out, it prioritises state control over market demands by making government and not employers the arbiter of a migrant鈥檚 desirability. This can be an uncomfortable position for a Tory politician.

At the same time, both Conservatives and Liberal-Nationals increasingly rely on nativist policies for electoral support, as indicated by the Tories鈥� wholesale take-over by the Brexiteers. In Australia, Dutton鈥檚 insistence that migration is out of control serves a similar purpose. In the end, the primary losers in this internally-contradictory rhetoric are migrants themselves. Squeezed between a system that reduces them to tools of economic growth and another that rejects them as a 鈥榙anger鈥� to the body politic, their presence highlights the fact that in centre-right ideology, only trade is meant to cross borders. Once again, Boris Johnson hopes to have his cake and eat it too.

This opinion was published with Prospect on 20 February 2020.听

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果冻影院 Links

• Dr Philippa Hetherington鈥檚 academic profile
• 果冻影院 School of Slavonic and East European Studies

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