Abbott's Immigration Policy: Open for business

During the two years of his prime ministership, Tony Abbott's immigration rhetoric had a constant refrain of 'stop the boats'. From his public utterances it is not clear that Mr Abbott has any firm and unchanging views on economic immigration provided that the immigrants arrive by plane. For his two-year incumbency, this paper reviews the areas of immigration numbers; 457 and other temporary visas; refugees and asylum seekers; and trends in the views of the Australian public on immigration. It also examines some of the claimed economic impacts of immigration and the role of free trade agreements in deregulating in-flows as well as the immigration reports of the Productivity Commission. Finally, it scrutinises Abbott's changing views on multiculturalism contrasting them with those of his successor Malcolm Turnbull.