Immigrants are assets

Re: “Minority report”, (PostBag, Aug 1).

No, Khun Somsak, I will not call you a racist because you are largely quoting statistics that are on the public record. But you let yourself down with your sadly ill-informed closing comments: “It would be nice if the immigrants could adapt to the new culture and contribute to the economy of the host countries, but here we are talking about immigrants who are flooding Europe and Australia, and who are uneducated, having no special skills, and being burden (sic) to the host country.”

Wrong on all counts, Khun Somsak, as far as Australia is concerned.

The stated aim of Australia’s migration policy is “to build the economy, shape society, support the labour market and reunite family”.

Far from a flood of immigrants, in 20162017 (the latest dates for which statistics are available), 262,489 migrants were admitted under strictly controlled government programmes. Of these, 68% were skilled and 32% were for family reunions.

Even if they were all totally uneducated, it was a pity you did not read or take notice of Felix Qui’s July 31 letter, in which he provided a long list of official statistics showing that in a drive to establish themselves in their new country, immigrant children are better and higher educated than the children of Australians.

Far from seeing migrants as a burden, the Australian government clearly sees them as an asset. DAVID BROWN