Tony Burke Listens To His Lebanese, Chinese And Bangladeshi Constituents And Vows Tougher Stance On Indians

IMRAN GASHKORI | Sports Editor| Contact

Immigration Minister Tony Burke was due to speak at the National Press Club this week but has had to postpone due to work commitments.

It's understood by The Advocate that the government has "heard" and "understood" the public as discontent surrounding immigration levels continues to grow across most sections of politics.

That has resulted in Tony Burke opting to take a tougher stance on who gets the enormous privilege of joining team Australia and who has to go to some other hole like Canada or New Zealand.

Burke canvassed his own constituents in the Division of Watson, many of whom are migrants themselves, as to what action he should be taking here. The answer was unanimous. Pull the ladder up on Indians.

Watson is largely Australian, with significant populations of Lebanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Greek and Bangladeshis. Many of which are permanent residents or citizens themselves. And as they control whether Tony Burke has a job or not, their opinion on the matter very much counts because out in the wild, people like Tony Burke do not do very well.

Burke's office told The Advocate that his constituents "love sport" whereas Indians only like cricket.

"We have great support for the Bulldogs, Thunder, Wallabies and the GWS Giants out here," they said.

"Tell you what we don't need? Any more support for the Indian cricket team!"

Across town in the Division of Parramatta, Andrew Charlton is telling Burke to "pump the brakes" and maybe not rush this undercooked policy through without thinking it over. Charlton's electorate has a very significant Indian population. In the Prime Minister's own electorate of Grayndler, support for immigration is high, as long as they don't live in Marrickville because you know they'd be happier closer to their own established communities in Western Sydney.

Closer to home in Betoota Heights, there is concern Burke will also go after European backpackers. The steady stream of British, Irish, French, Italian and sundry European nations is the lifeblood of many regional economies.

It's not understood what Burke plans to do with them.

More to come.