DIAC Rejects Unskilled Migrants Plan

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans has rejected a proposal by Sri Lanka`s immigration chief to allow unskilled workers to immigrate to Australia in a bid to stop the exodus of boatloads of immigrants turning up in Australian waters.

The Sir Lankan Commissioner P B Abeykoon told The Australian newspaper that his proposal would cut down the number of asylum seekers, a number that has been steadily rising over the past few months. It was whilst the Commissioner was in Canberra for talks that he raised the idea of unskilled migrants: The people who are going through the boats are unskilled labourers, fisherman, farmers, he commented.

However a spokesperson for the Australian DIAC said that Australia did not run an unskilled migration program.

Support for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has slumped, according to a recent Newspoll and some believe this slump is, in part, because of the way he has handled the refugee crisis. In response, Rudd has sent a special envoy in the form of senior diplomat John McCarthy to try and open up talks on a way of handling the huge numbers of Sri Lankan refugees heading for Australia.