> There are currently 3 million temporary visa holders in the country,

It's pretty important to realise that this includes student visas (600K - and education is a major earner for Australia) and graduate visas (200K) and 700K New Zealanders (who have their own special temporary class).

There are also 250K working holiday visas (ie backpackers).

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coderenegade a day ago | parent [-]

Yes, the largest chunk is students. In fact, ~6% of all international students in the world attend Australian universities, making it the largest per-capita destination for international students by a significant margin. They still require housing, and they still have working rights. Fake students coming over to work without ever attending a class is a well-known rort.

The single biggest justification for our high migration setting (among the highest in the OECD) is ostensibly for skills we need to keep the economy afloat. I've yet to see a skills shortage closed by migration. And of course, skilled migrants are one of the smaller cohorts in our net intake -- we actually bring in more dependents than we do skilled workers.

	▲	nl 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Of course skills shortages are closed by migrants! You've never met one of the many ex-UK police officers or nurses? Or the many welders on mine sites? And of course skilled migrants have dependents - they generally have partners and kids. Why is this surprising?