In May 2008 the Labor Minister for Immigration Chris Evans informed the ABC Radio's The National Interest that net migration, which according to ABS figures was some 177 600, was only 70 000. "Last year I think we brought in about 140 total settlers - about 140 thousand total arrivals and 72 thousand left so we only got the net gain of about 70 thousand." It appears he got his figure for net migration (immigrants minus emigrants) by subtracting total emigrants from a figure (some years out of date) that he had been given for net migration. In other words he subtracted emigrants twice.
Certainly inspires confidence in Senator Evans's capacity to effectively manage our country's immigration programme, doesn't it?
Given the sheer obtuseness demonstrated above by Senator Evans, it doesn't surprise me one bit that he has fallen for the "immigration is a fix for an ageing population" fallacy.
