Hastie’s remarks echoed those of Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price this month when she argued that “mass migration” was creating an infrastructure and housing crunch. Hastie did not use the term “mass migration” or single out any migrant group, as Price did, leading to her demotion from shadow cabinet.
The phrase “strangers in their own country” was popularised by a controversial speech from British conservative MP Enoch Powell in 1968. British Labour PM Keir Starmer, under political pressure over illegal migration, said in June that he regretted delivering a speech in which he said Britain risked becoming an “an island of strangers”.
Opposition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Price, speaking on 2GB on Wednesday, said some of Hastie’s colleagues viewed him as “some kind of threat”.
“We don’t have much in the way of policy. We are supposed to be an effective opposition. We do want to be able to do our job, so we’re not going to sit back and be silent until such time as we have our policy positions on a number of issues.”
Polls show Australians believe migration remains too high, but most housing experts, on the left and right, conclude that the housing shortage is driven far more by a lack of construction than high migration.
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Hastie is the spokesman for home affairs and therefore has policy responsibility for immigration, giving Ley no grounds to pull him up for veering outside his portfolio. However, his dramatic rhetoric will be viewed as provocative by party insiders amid speculation over his ambitions to lead the Liberals.
He told this masthead the post represented his personal views and largely echoed a speech he delivered in parliament earlier this year.
Ley has been attempting to improve relations with the Indian and Chinese diasporas since the election and has said that migrants are not personally to blame for infrastructure and housing crunches.
“It is not a failing of migrants or any individual migrant community. It is a failure of this government by not getting the balance right between the provision of that important infrastructure and the levels of migration,” she said on September 8.
Quoting grand prix legend Ayrton Senna, who died during a race in 1994, Hastie said in the post: “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you’re no longer a racing driver.”
“What is the point of politics, if you’re not willing to fight for something?
“The Liberal Party will be in exile for a long time until we act in the interests of Australian people. That means getting immigration to a sustainable level. If we don’t act, we can expect anger and frustration. We might even die as a political movement. So be it.”
Strategists including Redbridge’s Tony Barry, a former Liberal adviser, have argued that diminishing rates of home ownership would cruel the conservative side of politics because home owners are more likely to vote for parties of the right.