He wrote that there was a ‘bipartisan cone of silence on migration’.15 The inference seems to be that the politicians were on the side of the growth lobby, hence the silence.16 Indeed insiders know full well that the people and the growth lobby are at odds, and that the role of politicians is not to let this become apparent. [...] It’s the Government that ‘sets the rules that allow migrants to enter the country and to stay (or not)’.27 Or as Bob Birrell puts it, ‘Labor did not forget about the impact of immigration, it chose to ignore it’.28 Pressure from the growth lobby, together with a compliant political class bound by their code of silence, are part of the explanation for the surge. [...] 3 Table 1: The free speech variable % % Guardians against racism 19 The Threatened 33 The Fearless 36 The Confused 13 Total % 100 Total N 3018 Apart from the Confused, the Guardians were the smallest category, less than 20 percent of the sample. [...] And Table 18 shows that they are quite unlike the rest of the sample on the question of changing the date of Australia Day. [...] Tapri is responsible for the choice of questions and the author for the interpretation of the findings.
- Pages
- 39
- Published in
- Australia
