- Tony Abbott says Australia should start scaling back migration for local jobs
- Former Prime Minister says government should look to support more Australians
- Abbott also said to 2GB radio the First Fleet was good for indigenous Australians
- The First Fleet 'brought Australia into the modern world', the former PM said
- During the interview, Mr Abbott supported the existing Australia Day date
By Australian Associated Press
Published: 01:00 EST, 22 January 2018 | Updated: 01:00 EST, 22 January 2018
Tony Abbott wants the government to look at policies which give more jobs to locals and begin scaling back migration.
The former Prime Minister will also spend 2018 encouraging colleagues to take the pressure off power and house prices and make sure locals have jobs.
'These are the sorts of things when it comes to an election the government would get credit for,' he told 2GB radio on Monday.
The former Liberal leader also said he believed the arrival of the First Fleet was a good thing for Indigenous Australians, the latest in his long line of support for the existing date of Australia Day.
Tony Abbott wants the government to look at policies that give more jobs to locals and begin scaling back migration
Treasurer Scott Morrison was quizzed on Abbott's comments, agreeing there were skill shortages, but talked up last year's strong jobs growth.
'Your immigration program has to work in with the labour needs in the market to ensure that the economy can function well,' he told Sky News.
'You've got to keep a close eye on it, you can't let it get out of hand.'
Mr Morrison – who was Mr Abbott's immigration minister – reflected on the level of net overseas migration under Labor peaking at over 300,000 a year, insisting it was significantly below that now.
'We run a strong program which is focused on skills, which means we invite people to come into the country to make a contribution and not take one,' he said.
Abbott, a staunch supporter of keeping Australia Day on its current date, maintained on Monday that white settlement was beneficial for Aborigines.
'What happened on the 26th of January 1788 was on balance, for everyone – Aboriginal people included – a good thing because it brought Western civilisation to this country, it brought Australia into the modern world,' he told the radio station.
'Australia Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all of the things we've achieved.'
'All of the things that we know and love about modern Australia are the lineal descendants of the attitudes that came ashore with the First Fleet on that day back in 1788,' he continued.
Abbott, a staunch supporter of keeping Australia Day on its current date, maintained on Monday that white settlement was beneficial for Aborigines
Mr Abbott agreed that the treatment of white Australians was better than that of the Indigenous Australians 'for a long time', but said the country is making progress.
'We are starting to see a significant indigenous middle class, we've now got six Aboriginal people in the Parliament and this is progress, it really is progress,' he said.
Mr Abbott also said the contribution of the Aboriginal ethos 'to the wider Australian ethos' shouldn't be 'underestimated'.
'That easy going, stoicism, that laconic style that so characterises Australians is typical of the spirit that pervades indigenous Australia.'
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