Mr HILL (Bruce—Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs and Assistant Minister for International Education) (15:10): I thank the member for Kennedy for bringing the debate. I do welcome a chance to talk about migration and integration, the two core topics in the motion that you've put before the House. This matters to the work of my portfolio. I spoke in my first speech nearly 10 years ago this July extensively, though, around the role of migration and human diversity as our nation's defining characteristic and greatest strength. They are the words that I said then, and they're words that I believe now. It also matters to Australians now. The best I can say about some of your contribution is that you are reflecting some of the fears and the anxieties fuelled by misinformation and by things that we see that we don't like, some of which you've outlined, that are completely unacceptable, and I'll talk about that. I'll say clearly at the outset that migration has been too high. Migration has been too high, and the government is bringing it down. But there is nothing more Australian than a migrant. Everyone in this country except Indigenous Australians—everyone or their ancestors came from somewhere. Since 1945, more than six million people have chosen to make a permanent life in Australia. Every region, every town, every sporting club, every suburb has been touched by generations of migrants. Migrants are our relatives, our friends, our work colleagues, our business leaders, small-business people, researchers and more. Last year, we marked a number of anniversaries in this country. We marked the 80th anniversary of the first Department of Immigration, put in place by the Curtin Labor government to help with World War II rebuilding. We marked the 50th anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act, the last big bit of legislation by the Whitlam Labor government, which laid the foundations for equality in this country—that everyone is equal under the law, regardless of their race or ethnicity or background, and that everyone has the right to equal participation. We marked the 50th anniversary of the contribution of large-scale Vietnamese migration to our country and the 40th anniversary of the Hawke Labor government's access and equity strategies, providing for the right of everyone to fully participate in Australian society. In years to come, we can look back on last year for the establishment of the Office for Multicultural Affairs, bringing together investment, services and policies, and a milestone that I'm really proud of: the one-millionth humanitarian migrant welcomed to our country since World War II. That was late last year. One of the stereotypes that I cannot stand is the one that humanitarian migrants come to our country to get on welfare. It's deeply offensive. They're far more likely to start businesses and to have a crack than other Australians. In the year 2000, six of our country's then eight billionaires came to this country as humanitarian migrants and refugees. I want to address the two key issues in the motion. The level of migration is a legitimate debate to bring, but it needs to be based in fact. There is no mass migration in this country. Even in that rabble opposite, their shadow minister for immigration admitted this in a moment of honesty. You turn on the TV and look at what's happening in much of the Americas and Europe. They suffer from mass migration. We do not. We have a tightly controlled set of borders. Mr Katter: A point of order! You gave the figures of 700,000 a year coming— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Member for Kennedy, I really tried to make sure that people gave you the respect to listen to your 10-minute speech. It's now the assistant minister's turn, and I really want to ask you for some cooperation. Mr HILL: The size and the shape of our annual migration program will always vary depending on our national and economic interests. It's been true under this government. A fact to inject into the debate is that the permanent migration program this year is 185,000 people. Last year it was 185,000 people. Seventy per cent of that permanent migration program are skilled visa holders. The rest, predominantly, are family—partner and child visas, predominantly. Despite population growth, despite demand, including in regional areas in particular, for skilled workers and despite pressures on family reunions, that number has remained unchanged. Every state— Mr Katter interjecting— Mr HILL: This is just a tactic to interrupt because I want to respond to the points made. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It will be my call. Mr HILL: Indeed. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Kennedy, what is your point of order? Mr Katter: He flatters himself to think I'm trying to interrupt him, Madam Deputy Speaker. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order? Mr Katter: He is not taking into account those on student visas who don't go home, and that's what I said. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Kennedy, that's not a point of order. Mr Katter: He's implying that it doesn't exist. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Sit down, please. Member for Kennedy, I will not be taking more points of order from you. Mr HILL: Despite pressure from every state and territory saying they want a higher migration program, the government has kept it constant at 185,000. We have an ageing population. In 1980, we had about seven workers paying tax for every retiree. We now have about 3½, trending towards three. You cannot run a labour market, staff the aged-care homes or run our industries, and the healthcare system would collapse, without the contribution of skilled migrants. So I just want to get a few facts in the debate. I say to anyone who wants to bring this debate, in the community or the parliament: be specific. Don't come here with generalisations and smears on groups of people. I look at the government bench over there. This reflects modern Australia. This reflects multicultural Australia. I don't know what that is, but it does not look like the country that we are. It doesn't look like the country that we are today. But anyone who wants to bring this debate needs to say specifically what they want to cut. Do they want to stop Australians from falling in love with people from overseas and say, 'No more husband and wife for you; you can't bring it here because people say we have to massively cut migration'? Do they want to cut— Mr Katter: Wives plural. Mr HILL: We don't have polygamy. This is a nonsensical smear that people like you spread on social media. It really is ridiculous. It's juvenile. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You need to direct your comments through me, please. Mr HILL: Do they want to cut child visas? Which industries would you cripple? Which nursing homes would you close? Which regional healthcare centres would you close down? Which parts of the defence and other industries do you not want to see staffed with skilled workers? Be specific. Don't bring the general smears. The other measure—and I'll address the points made—is net overseas migration. It was too high post COVID and the borders reopening, and it's now falling. It's over 40 per cent down in the last couple of years. Think about it like this, for anyone actually interested in the facts. Net overseas migration plummeted during COVID to negative for the first time since World War II, because—who knows?—if you shut the borders and no-one comes in, it plummets. Then it spiked, when the borders were reopened, for about 18 months or two years, as Australians came back—Australian citizens count as net overseas migrants—and partner visas, students, working holiday-makers and agricultural workers stuck offshore came back. It spiked, and now it's coming down, exactly as the government said it would. The rise was a bit higher, but not because of arrivals. This is the big lie. It was because departures were slower than predicted, because we had the lowest average unemployment in the country for over 50 years. So, if you want to come in here with the smears, deal in facts. There are two things that you got wrong there, Member for Kennedy. You said most students don't leave. That is not true. It's a falsehood. Most students go home. It's our fourth biggest export sector. International education supports more than 250,000 Australian jobs.. I see the Minister for Education here. It's critical to the internationalisation of our universities, to our global research partnerships, to jobs right across Australia and to our global rankings at our top universities. Most students go home. Some of them stay. They become some of our most highly skilled contributing migrants. That's a pretty good deal for the taxpayer with an ageing population. Their home country pays for the first 20 years—their early childhood education and primary schooling. Their taxpayers pay. They come here and pay, at a profit, for an Australian-standard education, and then they work and pay taxes for 40 or 50 years. It's a pretty good deal for the country. But really the trick which has been done here—we see this on social media and, sadly, the member for Kennedy has chosen to come in here and repeat it—is the big scary number. What they're doing is taking parts of the arrivals without looking at the departures. They just pick random numbers and put them on social media and say there are a million people coming. It's just rubbish. It's not true. Just because you say it doesn't make it true. What we have is a competent government, but we do not have a functioning opposition. They're terrified of, and yet cuddling up to, One Nation. They're calling for massive cuts to migration, but they never come in here and say what they actually want to cut. And Pauline Hanson lives rent free inside their heads. Paul Keating said in 1996: The great tragedy of the shamelessly regressive politics of Pauline Hanson is not so much that it is rooted in ignorance, prejudice and fear, though it is; not so much that it projects the ugly face of racism, though it does; not so much that it is dangerously divisive and deeply hurtful to many of her fellow Australians, though it is; not even that it will cripple our efforts to enmesh ourselves in a region wherein lie the jobs and prosperity of future generations of young Australians, though it will—the great tragedy is that it perpetrates a myth, a fantasy, a lie. The myth of the monoculture. The lie that we can retreat to it. We are diverse and the key to being an Australian is respecting each— (Time expired) The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Just before I give the call to the next speaker, I am going to remind the House that, as challenging as topics may be, this is a chamber in which debates happen. We might not always like to hear what each other are saying, but it is your absolute obligation in this House to provide each other with courtesy when someone is on their feet and speaking. So I'm going to ask everyone to show some courtesy now to the member for Mayo—and I really don't want interjections.