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.
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
France’s Sarkozy faces possible indictment over witness-tampering
- Takieddine had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to $6 million in cash from Qaddafi to Sarkozy
- Prosecutors were requesting the indictment of Sarkozy on charges of “criminal conspiracy”
PARIS: French prosecutors on Tuesday said they were seeking indictments against former president Nicolas Sarkozy, his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and nine others in an alleged witness-tampering case.
The possible indictment concerns the sudden retraction of Ziad Takieddine, a key accuser of the former head of state, in a case over alleged illegal campaign financing from late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Takieddine, who died in late September, had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to five million euros ($6 million) in cash from Qaddafi to Sarkozy and the former president’s chief of staff in 2006 and 2007.
But in 2020, Takieddine suddenly retracted his incriminating statement, prompting accusations that Sarkozy and close allies paid the witness to change his mind, something they have always denied.
France’s national financial prosecutor’s office said in a statement it was requesting the indictment of Sarkozy on charges of “criminal conspiracy to commit fraud as part of an organized gang” and “concealment of witness tampering.”
Model and singer Bruni-Sarkozy would face only the charge of “criminal conspiracy to commit fraud as part of an organized gang.”
An investigating judge will decide whether to refer them to a criminal court.
When contacted by AFP, Sarkozy’s lawyer Christophe Ingrain said he had no comment.
Sarkozy, who was in office from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty in September of seeking illegal funding from Qaddafi’s Libya for the campaign that saw him elected French president.
The former head of state was sentenced to five years behind bars, but left La Sante prison in Paris after serving just 20 days, following a judge’s order for his release pending appeal.
He has always maintained his innocence. An appeals trial is to get underway in March.
The 70-year-old remains an influential figure on the right despite the legal problems that have dogged him since leaving office.
