SYDNEY: Australia on Wednesday cut its annual intake of immigrants by nearly 15 percent, and barred some new arrivals from living in its largest cities for three years, in a bid to ease urban congestion.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison — who is trailing badly in the polls ahead of a federal election in May — hopes to tap into rising voter frustration over house prices and congestion, which some see as a consequence of population growth.
“This is a practical problem that Australians wanted addressed,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra, the capital, after announcing the annual immigration intake would be cut to 160,000 people, with effect from July 1, versus 190,000 before.
The policy change comes at a time of national reflection over Australia’s attitude toward migrants after the shooting of at least 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand’s city of Christchurch.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers.
“My great frustration is that, in addressing these issues of population and immigration programs, these debates often get hijacked by those of competing views who seek to exploit them for other causes,” Morrison added.
“I reject all of that absolutely.”
A ReachTel poll published in September showed that 63 percent of Sydney residents supported curbs on the number of migrants moving to Australia’s biggest city.
Morrison said the cap would include places for up to 23,000 people who could migrate to Australia under a new skilled visa.
Such arrivals could gain permanent residency after living outside of Australia’s largest cities for three years, he added.
They will be barred from living in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney or the Gold Coast, where infrastructure is overutilized, said immigration minister David Coleman.
Authorities will require proof of residential and work addresses in future applications for permanent residency, he added, as a way of enforcing the requirement.
Business welcomed the bid to alleviate regional skill shortages.
“While Australians in our major cities are frustrated by congestion, those in our regions have told us they need more people, skills, jobs and investment,” said Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Australian Business Council.
There is no cap on temporary migration, such as students on temporary visas, who form the bulk of migrants to Australia, which issued 378,292 student visas in the year to June 30, 2018.
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Australia cuts annual immigrant cap, puts key cities off-limits to some
Australia cuts annual immigrant cap, puts key cities off-limits to some
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison hopes to tap into rising voter frustration over house prices and congestion
- The policy change comes at a time of national reflection over Australia’s attitude toward migrants after the shooting of at least 50 people in New Zealand
Foreign truckers ‘in God’s hands’ in militant-hit Mali
KIDIRA: Amath Mboup, a young Senegalese, is haunted by the charred and decomposing bodies of fellow truckers killed by jihadists lying along the highway to the Malian city of Kayes.
Since September, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, have sought to cripple landlocked Mali’s economy and undermine its junta.
They have been blocking and sometimes attacking fuel tankers entering Mali and placing total blockades on certain strategic routes leading to the capital Bamako.
Hundreds of tankers from Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic capital, and the Senegalese capital Dakar have been set ablaze.
Dozens of drivers have been killed or kidnapped, particularly on the Kayes-Bamako road in the west of the country, near the border with Senegal.
After waiting two days for routine checks in the Senegalese border town of Kidira, one of the main crossing points between Senegal and Mali, Mboup — who is in his thirties — was preparing to travel onwards to Bamako, his truck loaded with goods.
Alone in the truck, where amulets hang to ward off bad luck, Mboup was apprehensive as he is every time he takes this route.
- ‘Everyone is afraid’ -
“Everyone is afraid to take this road because it’s too risky: You know you’re leaving, but you don’t know if you’ll come back alive,” he told AFP, his face dusty and pale with fatigue.
Malick Bodian, another Senegalese driver, told AFP he is always putting his life “in God’s hands.”
“Your mind is never at peace when you travel this road. You think you could be attacked at any moment,” he said.
Many of the truckers interviewed by AFP said there was no question of quitting their jobs.
“We don’t have a choice. It’s the only job I know how to do to feed my family,” said Mboup, a married father of two.
Behind him, dozens of trucks, engines rumbling, were lined up for several kilometers waiting to leave Senegal for the bumpy Malian roads and all their potential dangers.
Fuel tankers were not among the trucks, however. Last November, JNIM claimed in a propaganda video that all tanker drivers would henceforth be considered “military targets.”
The drivers in line were Senegalese, Malian, Ivorian and Burkinabe and many said they had encountered militants on their journeys.
“They often appear out of nowhere in the forest on motorcycles and are usually wearing turbans and heavily armed,” Malian driver Moussa Traore said.
“When you see them, you’re the one who slows down. Sometimes they stop you to ask for your documents, other times not,” he said.
- Obstacle course -
Mali imports most of its requirements, including fuel, fish, fruit and vegetables, by road from Senegal, Mauritania or Ivory Coast. More than 70 percent of its imports transit through Dakar port.
JNIM is waging a form of “economic jihad” in western Mali, aiming to destabilize the region by “targeting vital logistics routes,” according to a 2025 report by the Timbuktu Institute think tank.
Traveling on certain roads in Mali such as the one to Kayes has become an obstacle course.
“The flow of trucks that used to pass through Kidira is no longer the same,” said Modou Kayere, an official with the West African Truck Drivers Union, which represents some 15 countries.
In late November, Senegalese authorities reported that nearly 2,500 shipping containers filled with goods destined for Mali were blocked at Dakar port due to the security situation.
According to most of the drivers interviewed by AFP, vehicles carrying goods are rarely attacked by militants, unlike fuel tankers.
But the risk is real and the drivers are trying to adapt.
They have decided to stop driving at night and some have even set up alert networks on WhatsApp to warn their peers of danger on the road.
Since September, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, have sought to cripple landlocked Mali’s economy and undermine its junta.
They have been blocking and sometimes attacking fuel tankers entering Mali and placing total blockades on certain strategic routes leading to the capital Bamako.
Hundreds of tankers from Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic capital, and the Senegalese capital Dakar have been set ablaze.
Dozens of drivers have been killed or kidnapped, particularly on the Kayes-Bamako road in the west of the country, near the border with Senegal.
After waiting two days for routine checks in the Senegalese border town of Kidira, one of the main crossing points between Senegal and Mali, Mboup — who is in his thirties — was preparing to travel onwards to Bamako, his truck loaded with goods.
Alone in the truck, where amulets hang to ward off bad luck, Mboup was apprehensive as he is every time he takes this route.
- ‘Everyone is afraid’ -
“Everyone is afraid to take this road because it’s too risky: You know you’re leaving, but you don’t know if you’ll come back alive,” he told AFP, his face dusty and pale with fatigue.
Malick Bodian, another Senegalese driver, told AFP he is always putting his life “in God’s hands.”
“Your mind is never at peace when you travel this road. You think you could be attacked at any moment,” he said.
Many of the truckers interviewed by AFP said there was no question of quitting their jobs.
“We don’t have a choice. It’s the only job I know how to do to feed my family,” said Mboup, a married father of two.
Behind him, dozens of trucks, engines rumbling, were lined up for several kilometers waiting to leave Senegal for the bumpy Malian roads and all their potential dangers.
Fuel tankers were not among the trucks, however. Last November, JNIM claimed in a propaganda video that all tanker drivers would henceforth be considered “military targets.”
The drivers in line were Senegalese, Malian, Ivorian and Burkinabe and many said they had encountered militants on their journeys.
“They often appear out of nowhere in the forest on motorcycles and are usually wearing turbans and heavily armed,” Malian driver Moussa Traore said.
“When you see them, you’re the one who slows down. Sometimes they stop you to ask for your documents, other times not,” he said.
- Obstacle course -
Mali imports most of its requirements, including fuel, fish, fruit and vegetables, by road from Senegal, Mauritania or Ivory Coast. More than 70 percent of its imports transit through Dakar port.
JNIM is waging a form of “economic jihad” in western Mali, aiming to destabilize the region by “targeting vital logistics routes,” according to a 2025 report by the Timbuktu Institute think tank.
Traveling on certain roads in Mali such as the one to Kayes has become an obstacle course.
“The flow of trucks that used to pass through Kidira is no longer the same,” said Modou Kayere, an official with the West African Truck Drivers Union, which represents some 15 countries.
In late November, Senegalese authorities reported that nearly 2,500 shipping containers filled with goods destined for Mali were blocked at Dakar port due to the security situation.
According to most of the drivers interviewed by AFP, vehicles carrying goods are rarely attacked by militants, unlike fuel tankers.
But the risk is real and the drivers are trying to adapt.
They have decided to stop driving at night and some have even set up alert networks on WhatsApp to warn their peers of danger on the road.
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