I think it is safe to say that there are many people who are greatly troubled by Australia’s current policies for dealing with so-called “illegal maritime arrivals”, or “asylum-seekers”.  

Is it really consistent with international humanitarian standards for Australia to hold people in what news reports have described as squalid, unsanitary and miserable conditions for years on end while their claims of refugee status are “processed”? I don’t think it is!!!! We are now in the midst of what has been called the greatest refugee crisis since World War 2, with 60 million people desparately seeking to escape wars and persecution. Yet we don’t see the governments in Europe putting people in detention!

Speaking purely for myself, there is something terribly wrong with this picture.  And as someone who is a migrant to Australia himself, and who comes from a family where ancestors were fortunate enough to escape from war and persecution, I have the greatest sympathy for refugees who find themselves in detention.

Auctioning off Australian visas could boost the country’s bottom-line by $7.6 billion per year but the Productivity Commission has rejected the idea saying that it is short-sighted and would attract the wrong sort of people. The commission also suggested that even the SIV program should be abolished.

In its draft recommendations, the Productivity Commission's report has instead called for improvements in the immigration system stating that it needs to focus on attracting skilled migrants, removing barriers to immigrants integrating into the labour market, and improving access to humanitarian migrants.

The draft recommendations have backfired on Liberal Democratic Senator, David Leyonhjelm who originally called for the investigation into the price-based visa system and suggested that charging $40,000 per permanent visa would allow for large tax cuts for Australians.

The commission said its research and analysis found that gains from auctioning off visas would be minor compared to the ongoing contributions and income tax that can be collected from younger immigrants over their lifetime. It said, skilled immigrants contribute much more in tax than they cost in services and warned that selling visas could hurt the economy in the long term.

The commission also stressed that migration levels need to be maintained for decades to increase income levels of Australians. It said that at current levels of immigration, Australia's population will reach 40 million by 2060, and real per capita incomes will climb 50 per cent.