As some of Australia's major cities continue to grapple with congestion and infrastructure woes, so, too, does the debate over the country's immigration policy.
In a bid to better cater to each state's needs, the Morrison Government is reportedly considering modifying immigration policy to give the states a more active role.
The Australian newspaper reports the change has been discussed at senior levels of government.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told Sky News such coordination has been tried previously but never successfully.
The Federal Government currently has an annual cap of 190,000 for skilled and family migration.
Under the reported plan, the states would be required to give the federal government their requests for the number of skilled migrants they want each year.
They would also have to demonstrate whether they have sufficient infrastructure to handle the new residents.
But the Prime Minister says the Federal Government would retain ultimate control over the overall cap.
"The Commonwealth Government, the Australian Government, will always set our migration rates”. Scott Morrison
Mr Morrison says the cap on permanent migrants would still be demand-driven but must be based on each state and territory's carrying capacity.
But a former deputy secretary in the Department of Immigration, Abul Rizvi, says many skilled visas are already distributed on a state-by-state basis.
Australia’s annual intake of permanent migrants fell to its lowest level in a decade this year, with 163,000 migrants granted visas.
Mr Rizvi says, if the Government's concerns centre around congestion and a lack of infrastructure, the focus should be on total migration, not just those applying for permanent visas.
Immigration analyst Jock Collins, from the University of Technology Sydney business school, says including states more closely in immigration decisions has succeeded in other parts of the world.
"The idea that the states should play some role is maybe radical in Australian terms, but certainly not in terms of global terms. For example, Canada”. Professor Jock Collins
“After many decades now”, Professor Collins said, “the provinces in Canada, their states, have decided what sort of immigration intake they want independently of the federal government, and that seems to have worked pretty well."
Professor Collins says making states the primary drivers in deciding where migrants are needed and who has sufficient infrastructure to support them makes sense, but executing such policy can be complex.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says the changing nature of demand in each state means annual input would aid the federal government in knowing who needs what.
