Skill up or sink

At the cost of increasing stress for the parents suffering heavy traffic on the way to school, Australia has to attract foreign talents.

AHN CHAK-HEEThe author is the head of the global cooperation team at the JoongAng Ilbo. “It takes 45 minutes to drive my child to school just 3 kilometers [1.8 miles] away. I once wasted an hour and a half!” The traffic hell that is likely to take place in a metropolitan in a developing country is happening in Melbourne, Australia. What is happening in a city that is ranked high in the world’s most livable city list? The Australian authorities point at the rapid influx of immigrants as a cause.

According to this year’s survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Melbourne has surpassed Sydney as Australia’s most populous city. As of July, the population of Melbourne was 5.2 million, and is rapidly growing. The nearby western region where a large number of Indian immigrants have settled has been incorporated into the city. This is a remarkable expansion compared to a population of less than 3.5 million two decades ago.

It’s not just Melbourne. In Australia as a whole, population growth hit 1.9 percent as the pandemic subsided, and it is the highest since 2008. Housing to accommodate the increasing population is being built, but there are limits. Infrastructure for convenience, such as public transportation, especially road networks, have not been able to keep up with the population growth. Naturally, the quality of life of not only immigrants but also existing residents falls, and the stress index will rise. The social costs resulting from this are also significant.

In short, complaints from citizens are piling up. Nevertheless, the Australian government continues to ease immigration policies and open borders. Why? As widely known, Australia is a country of immigrants. Since World War II, Canberra has been implementing a “population or perish” policy for decades. Between 1945 and 1965, two million immigrants moved to Australia and settled there. If the goal at the time was simple population inflow, things are different today. The purpose is clearer and obvious. They want to resolve the problems faced by any developed country — such as aging population and global warming. The decision is based on the judgment that it has no choice but to attract certain professionals to resolve the challenges with no clear solutions.

The urgency is evident in the latest Australian government’s slogan “Skill up or sink.” At the cost of increasing stress for the parents suffering heavy traffic on the way to school, Australia has to attract foreign talents.

What about Korea, which has the lowest birthrate in the world? Despite various predictions and warnings that the country may disappear from the map, discussions on active immigration policies are rare. The population issue is not something that can be resolved overnight, just as the Jamboree mess the people watched with frustration and humiliation. As we celebrate the joy of the liberation 78 years ago, our future seems darker, sadly.