Tasmania won’t be disadvantaged by any potential change to the cap on Australia’s annual intake of migrants, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.
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Mr Morrison gave the assurance during an exclusive interview with The Advocate after he previously floated plans to cut the cap on permanent migrants by 30,000.
The Liberal Leader said he had been “very cautious” about the matter when asked whether cutting the cap was in Tasmania’s interest given the state’s workforce shortages and plans for population growth.
“There’s a cap on what the intake is and we’re running well below where that cap is now and so that’s what we’re contemplating is to where we set the cap,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison said while Tasmania “doesn’t get a great share of international migrants”, he would work closely with state leaders on migration plans.
“Immigration at the end of the day is all about population management, infrastructure, service,” he said.
“And so what I’ve done, working with the Premiers, is to bring those two things together so Tasmania won’t be disadvantaged by any such change that we might make to the cap on overall international migration.”
TASSIE TURNAROUND
Mr Morrison said Tasmania was “a state really starting to move ahead” with lower unemployment, population growth and more jobs.
“Tasmania has been the turnaround state and I particularly commend the work that (Premier) Will Hodgman has done in this respect,” he said.
“People are coming back to Tasmania and I think whether it’s in the north of Tasmania or throughout the rest of the state, people are seeing the economic opportunities there and the growth of the economy.”
ELECTION LOOMING
Mr Morrison spent the weekend touring northern Tasmania ahead of the federal election later this year.
The federal Liberal Party’s fortunes in Tasmania have changed since their heyday under former Primer Minister John Howard, when they held three seats in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate.
Today, the Liberals hold just three Senate seats after its “three amigos” in the lower house were tossed out in 2016.
“That’s what we’re seeking to change at the next election. It’s as simple as that,” Mr Morrison said.
The Prime Minister also brushed off concerns the Liberal vote went backwards during the 2018 Braddon byelection.
“Byelections aren’t general elections. Governments don’t change on byelections,” he said.
“All of the members who went through that circus of the Section 44 (dual citizenship) issues of the constitution were returned. So I don’t think that was frankly a bellweather.”
The Coalition does have a fourth Tasmanian representative in Nationals Senator Steve Martin but Mr Morrison said he was focused on the House of Representatives when asked whether keeping a Nationals member in the state was a priority.
“That's the house in which you form government and that my focus when I am particularly we’re here in Tasmania working with our local candidates on the ground …,” he said.
“But we’ve got a very strong Coalition between the Liberals and the Nationals. We’ve always governed together and we have an excellent relationship with (Deputy Prime Minister) Michael McCormack.
“The Senate campaign will be important. We want to make sure that we can maximise the number of coalition senators and of course I want to see that with our Liberal Senators.”