The author, whose mother is a long-serving Department of Immigration case officer in Australia, reflects on how immigration has changed in the country. Currently, 51% of Australians have at least one parent born overseas, and the majority of new immigrants are temporary workers rather than permanent residents. This shift means fewer settlement services for newcomers, despite the government spending hundreds of millions on migrant programs. By the end of the decade, there will be an additional $385 million cut in such expenditures as immigration increasingly serves economic needs without corresponding support structures.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
It is a statement so unremarkable that it is now the norm in a country where 51 per cent of the population have at least one parent born overseas.
asserted
cent → have → parent
When my mother left Poland in 1979, the country was locked behind the Iron Curtain.
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country → leave → Curtain
My uncle and aunty asked if she would ever be able to come back again.
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she → ask → ?
She did not know.
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She → know → ?
My mother was also, until last year, the longest-serving Department of Immigration case officer in Australian history.
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mother → serve → history
For 43 years she worked to bring in refugees and vet those who were not.
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who → work → those
When I was 12, she taught me how to pick a fake passport.
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she → teach → passport
By the time I was 18, she had postings in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Africa.
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she → have → Malaysia
She knew all the tricks.
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She → know → tricks
The asylum seekers who were suddenly so gay they could not stop kissing each other before their interview.
uncertain
they → stop → interview
The “Christian” worshippers who were so devout they could not remember a single line in the Bible.
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they → remember → Bible
Yet, in all the thousands of cases that she decided over four decades, she did not find one immigrant who arrived intending to destroy Australia’s values.
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who → decide → values
They came here because they wanted a better life for themselves and their children.
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they → come → themselves
What has changed in the past two decades is that the overwhelming majority of Australia’s immigration intake has shifted from the permanent program (200,000 per year) to the temporary program (now 1 million per year).
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majority → change → year
So have the settlement services that were historically wrapped around migrants when they entered the country as “new Australians”.
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they → have → Australians
Today, you are much more likely to be a temporary migrant who entered on a student visa, then jumped onto a bridging visa and into a job, than a permanent migrant whose skills, circumstances and support have been assessed by the government either before you arrived or as soon as you landed.
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you → enter → government
In the 1980s, the Australian settlement team, including my father, took in artists from Romania, refugees from Vietnam and an eccentric band of migrants from Poland.
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team → include → Poland
They taught them English and how to find a job.
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They → teach → job
Those first years in Australia are crucial to supporting a shared identity.
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years → support → identity
Now, as business dictates the flow of temporary migrants under the demand-driven system, the government sees less need to wrap services around them.
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government → dictate → them
All because the iron law of GDP means we must continue to grow the economy without taxpayer dollars subsidising the cost of supporting them.
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dollars → mean → them
Today, the Australian government spends hundreds of millions of dollars on migrant programs.
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government → spend → programs
But as a proportion of GDP, it spends less on settlement services than it did after the end of the White Australia policy.
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it → spend → policy
By the end of the decade, the federal government wants to cut spending by a further $385 million.
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government → want → million
At the same time, the economy has become dependent on temporary migrants.
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economy → become → migrants
They now make up a record 16 per cent of the working-age population.
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They → make → population
Those who want to further their careers often run head-on into Australia’s guild system: the antiquated peak bodies that control who can work as a professional based on which university they went to and the amount they can pay to match qualifications they are already entitled to.
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they → want → qualifications
Engineers become Uber drivers, accountants become kitchen hands.
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accountants → become → ?
Doctors and nurses struggle to have their qualifications recognised.
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qualifications → struggle → ?
When the temporary visa process begins through the instigation of businesses or universities, the government has very little visibility of its impact on infrastructure until it is too late.
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it → begin → infrastructure
The policy at both the federal and state level becomes reactive, not proactive.
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policy → become → level
After 30 years of deregulation, each visa category is now filled with vested business interests that will loudly criticise even the slightest change.
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that → fill → change
Take away working holidaymakers and fruit won’t get picked.
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fruit → take → holidaymakers
Take away international students and university revenue is under threat.
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revenue → take → threat
Take away chefs and the price you will pay for a steak on a Friday will go up.
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you → take → Friday
The government knows Australia’s dependence on temporary migration has become a problem.
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dependence → know → migration
Both major parties have taken too long to become alert to the risks that the demand-driven system poses.
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system → take → that
One Nation has found the gap and exploited it with great political effect, fuelled by the growing nativism of social media and an intractable global economic downturn that has voters looking for someone to blame for why their life may not have worked out as planned.
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life → find → someone
As one of the 13 million Australians with a parent born overseas, it is difficult not to be alarmed by the tone of the debate.
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it → bear → debate
My mother refused to speak to me in English.
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mother → refuse → English
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
