Four key myths that manufacture an immigration ‘crisis’

Deakin Distinguished Professor Fethi Mansouri and Dr Amanuel Elias have written an article for 360info, dispelling some of the key immigration myths standing in the way of productive conversations about immigration in Australia. The article is titled: 4 key myths that manufacture an immigration ‘crisis’.

As the article explains, despite being one of the top 10 issues for the Australian public, a lot of the debate around immigration is based on myths, which do not stand up to the actual evidence. Currently, some of the common misconceptions about the immigration system are:

• There are too many immigrants and soon ‘white’ Australians will become a minority.
• Immigration hurts the economy and leads to unemployment, inflation and housing shortage.
• Immigration is a threat to liberal democracy; migrants are often criminals or could threaten the national culture and social cohesion.
• Immigration threatens sustainability and can lead to the degradation of biodiversity.

Additionally, Professor Fethi Mansouri was recently interviewed by 360info about the state of the immigration debate in Australia, and some of the myths that can stand in the way of productive conversations, which need to be had. You can read the articles and watch the videos on the 360info website. As he notes:

“Australia is a migration nation, we would not have the Australia that we have today with its socio-cultural fabric, with its economic prosperity without migration. By and large Australians have favorable opinions towards migration…it’s only when migration becomes weaponized politically that we have a conversation that becomes driven by disinformation.”