Labor MP rails against skilled migration

Labor backbencher Kelvin Thomson has told his boss Prime Minister Julia Gillard that
he does not want the number of skilled migrants in Australia to increase.
Mr Thomson said on Wednesday that he had written to Ms Gillard worried about a
report in Indian business newspaper The Economic Times that Australia intended to
target Chandigarh, Punjab and other cities in northern India with a promotional
campaign in 2012 looking to attract skilled migrants.
"I told the Prime Minister I do not want the number of skilled migrants to increase,
and do not support Australia running promotional campaigns to try to attract
migrants," he wrote on his website blog.
If the report was accurate, Mr Thomson said Ms Gillard had contradicted her
pre-election claim that she didn't believe in a "big Australia" and suggested the
campaign be put on hold until the government's Sustainable Population Strategy was
finished.
The backbencher's comments come as Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna arrived in
Australia for talks with Resources Minister Martin Ferguson and Foreign Minister
Kevin Rudd.
Mr Thomson said he had a number of problems with boosting skilled migration rates,
including that it would take jobs away from locals and builders tied up with flood
repair works shouldn't be diverted into creating the extra infrastructure needed to
support a population influx.