Thread by @ZoeJardiniere

Interesting thread on the new Australia deal here. With an interesting tidbit about "movement of people"

Here's my prediction on what this might mean... #r4today

https://twitter.com/DavidHenigUK/status/1404677709658263552

It's possible ofc, that this government really is aiming to achieve what the governments of the 80s were not QUITE racist enough to fully implement:
A free movement area with the "old" (white) colonies.
I highly doubt it, but no doubt some will characterise it as such either way.

More likely imho is an increase in limited legal migration pathways. I've banged on about the India deal here, explaining why a few thousand time-limited visas is likely, if anything, to *increase* the number of people who end up living here without papers

https://twitter.com/ZoeJardiniere/status/1389831395397316613

Unlike the 3,000 visas allocated to temporary Indian migrants, however, young temporary migrants coming from Australia on the Youth Mobility Scheme are capped at 30,000.
Those numbers have, to my knowledge, never been fulfilled. About 10,000 actually come on this scheme per year.

So they'd have to make the visa more attractive in order to make the deal meaningful in terms of legal migration opportunities between the two countries.
For now the visa limits residence to just 2 years, is only open to people under 30, & cannot be extended to allow settlement.

Other option is to introduce some new, bespoke, high skilled & sector-specific migration routes.
If they're being thematic, these might be for highly qualified agriculture and farming experts? Or it just may be for general high paid folks again. Either way it will benefit v few.

The likelihood is that this focuses on limited mobility for lower paid, flexibilised workers, since that's what the UK needs.
(Let's be honest here I'm less clear on what Australia wants from us in terms of migration. It may be limits on OUR young, low-paid folks going THERE?)

They don't fit the stereotype, but given time-limited visas, Australians do overstay & become undocumented here.

Something tells me no fanfare about easier deportations of Australians "with no right to be here" will be part of the press on this like it was with India, though 🤔

Oh, & on this point, come talk to me when the International Trade Department takes this to the level of the Home Office & reannounces the same "digital border services" (that are likely to reproduce & entrench racist exclusion) since 2018 to today 🙄😅

https://twitter.com/DavidHenigUK/status/1404676729403232262

Talking of which, you know what that will be one of the things they'll reannounce as part of this Australia deal.
The digital border systems that Ozzies with biometric passports will be able to use are bound to get another plug.
Big woop. Home Office AI is racist. #r4today

Looong story short there's only a few areas this Home Secretary is comfortable moving in when it comes to migration, but Australia is a very different fish in this domain than India.

Wait & see, but please I beg you to be sceptical about how they try to spin it.

(I'm getting misread here, so, to be clear, I obv don't think introducing free movement with Australia is *in itself* racist. It's a historical point I'm making. Anyway one way or the other, guys, I do not think it's going to happen.)