Editorial | April 6, 2020

And for decades, our economies - including Tasmania's - have largely pinned their prosperity on attracting the best and brightest from across the world.

In return, migrants have been happy to accept this offer and provide their skills locally, many bringing their families with them to enjoy the comparable peace that we all enjoy.

Related: Tasmanian skilled migrants facing job losses but no Centrelink

They pay tax, they pay GST, they spend in our communities and they give back to our communities.

And what do they ask in return? Very little, really. Skilled migrants don't seek Centrelink, they're not entitled to Medicare or the new JobKeeper wage, not to mention the uncertainty for those living in the grey area between working visa and permanent residency. At our invitation, they have fulfilled all requirements of their visas, including working in regional areas.

So to simply deny them any support and offer the glib line "it's time to go home" is a sad indictment on our country at a time when the spirit of goodwill should be shown to all.

It seems we are only happy to use their skills in our industries and add their spending power to our economy, but when things are reversed and they are in need of even the smallest of amount of support in return, we decide they're not our responsibility.

We treat it as a one-way street.

Not even a global pandemic can ease the miserable attitude towards migration that exists in parts of our community and, it seems, at the highest levels of government.

In the future, when migrants see the willingness of the Australian Government to abandon them once they've served their purpose, they might decide to look elsewhere - European countries and Canada, where people on similar migration schemes have been provided support.

Then, once the coronavirus emergency is over and we want to kickstart our economy again by maximising economic activity, will they trust us?

Or will they take their skills elsewhere?

We would all be poorer if that was the outcome.