Migrants’ RightsAustralia is a country of immigrants and has one of the most diverse multicultural, multilingual, multi-faith populations in the world. In Australia, three million residents (16%) speak a language other than English at home. Of the almost 20 million Australians, 29 per cent or almost 6 million were born overseas.Migrants and refugees have made huge economic, political and cultural contributions to Australia. The Communist Alliance supports multiculturalism – the integration of the best and most progressive of immigrant cultures into a new multicultural Australian culture while rejecting all that is backward and reactionary. We support efforts to help ethnic communities both retain their culture and heritage and also fully participate in the economic, political and social life of Australia. Immigrants, refugees and guest foreign workers continue to be a source of cheap labour. Employers benefit from such labour due to the low wages paid which in turn hold down wages for the non-migrant sections of the workforce. The Communist Alliance welcomes skilled migrants and fights for their qualifications to be recognised. However, we also recognise the problems created by the drain of skilled workers from developing countries. Capitalism benefits when migrants continue to occupy a low social status in Australia. Racism is generally directed against the less well-off rather than the wealthier immigrants and is used to divide the workforce. The Communist Alliance supports the following policies:
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