In this interview, Mia Schlicht appeared on The Bolt Report Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research on housing and immigration.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research.
Below is a transcript of the interview.
Andrew Bolt:
Join me as the panel, Mia Schlicht, the research fellow of the Institute of Public Affairs, and Mike Newman, commentator, corporate advisor, and former New South Wales senior trade advisor to Japan and Korea. Mia, I said earlier the premier said she was apologising for the stolen generations, among other things, even though Labour appointed Stolen Generations Task Force found there was no such formal policy ever in Victoria. So what will this apology actually achieve?
Mia Schlicht:
Well, I don’t think it’ll achieve much, Andrew, other than breed more division in the Victorian community, which is something this government seems determined to pursue at every single point. I mean, Victorians could not be more clear. They do not want to be divided on the basis of race. And listen, pursuing better outcomes for indigenous Australians is a very noble cause, and I mean that very, very genuinely. But acts of virtue signalling and acts of gestures like these will do nothing to achieve those tangible outcomes to actually close that gap. Yet despite this, Jacinta Allen seems very happy to get up at any point to make these grand gestures to appeal to her activist mates, even if that comes at the cost of Victorians. At the end of the day, that is where the cost is lying. It is with Victorians and it’s dividing us now more than ever.
Now because of this, we have a two-tiered legal system. We have a system where some people because of their race have more votes than others and some people have better access to parliament on the basis of their race. This is a very, very dark time for Victoria and it seems to just be getting darker.
Andrew Bolt:
And don’t forget a racially divided medical service, at least in Victoria. Mike, government’s dividing us by race and trashing the history. Seems to be madness, really dangerous, especially now at a time of mass immigration, the challenges we have in integrating people. And we’ve got the federal opposition now working on a policy, not just to cut immigration, but to bring in people more likely to fit in. But ABC presenters are really rehearsing their lines about that. Have a listen to this this morning.
Rafael Epstein:
[inaudible 00:02:05] anti-migration, isn’t that the definition of prejudice if we’ve got complex problems around infrastructure and roads, blaming the latest arrivals? Isn’t that prejudice?
Andrew Bolt:
Honestly, Mike, I mean, does it amaze you that we don’t seem to be able to have a serious debate about immigration without the ABC and even some left-wing liberals screaming racist?
Michael Newman:
Thanks, Andrew. Well, to be honest, Japan is a country where equality is not seen as a form of discrimination. I come here quarterly from Japan for business, and every time I come here, I always think, what’s the next event in the Oppression Olympics? In Japan, Japan is proud to be Japan. Japanese people are proud to be Japanese. We have a new prime minister, and our media was more interested that she wasn’t playing up to the fact that she was the first female prime minister, other than the fact she was actually extremely popular in her own right. She has a net popularity rating in the high 60s, early 70s, which is pretty much unheard of amongst Japanese prime ministers because she is adopting a Japan first policy. They have a declining population, but they believe that the quality of the immigration they get in is the most important thing, not the quantity.
So we are seeing a huge sea shift. We’re even having a ministerial council to help the Japanese work out how foreigners can better integrate with Japanese society. It is not that the Japanese want to fit in with new migrants. They want the new migrants to fit in with Japan. And I think that that is a very successful model. They’re 97% Japanese. Travel is at record levels. We’re going to have 40 million visitors to Japan this year, and presumably people are going because they love the culture and all of these aspects and the very kind and friendly Japanese people, but the entire nation really wants to make sure that we never, ever sacrifice the core of who we are.
Andrew Bolt:
Isn’t it strange, Mia? Japan’s got just 3% of Japanese born overseas. We’ve got 30% of Australians born overseas, but they have frankly talked about immigrants needing to fit in and wanting to limit immigration than we do.
Michael Newman:
Well, there’s a town in Sytama Prefecture-
Andrew Bolt:
Sorry.
Michael Newman:
Oh, sorry.
Andrew Bolt:
No, that’s to Mia. Mia, what do you make of that?
Michael Newman:
Oh, my apologies.
Mia Schlicht:
Well, I think it’s an interesting point, Andrew. And of course, in Japan, they’re having these talks, and that’s been the limiting point here in Australia is that up until now and even now with bodies like the ABC who are screaming racist when anyone wants to actually start discussing the surge of migration in Australia and the impacts that’s having on the people who are here, you get called a racist.
Reality is mainstream Australians are absolutely sick of that. We did some polling at the IPA and we found that 70% of Australians thought that migration needed to be paused until social infrastructure and economic infrastructure could catch up. That’s the reality. So the ABC can sit there and call us all racist, but that is how mainstream Australians feel. At the end of the day, it is an absolute testament that there are so many people who want to come into this country, but unless we can get migration under control, unless it is planned for, and unless it is targeted toward areas of economic need, then the quality of life for everyone living in Australia, whether you were born here or whether you are a new arrival, that will decline.
Andrew Bolt:
Mike, you’ve spent more than half your working life, I believe, in Japan. Do you see them self-flagellating about their past? And they’ve got a past that’s harder to get over what with World War II and all that than we do. Do you see them flagellating themselves as much as we do and calling each other racist or even daring to suggest that foreigners should fit in?
Michael Newman:
Not in the slightest. And it was interesting, you mentioned earlier in the show, former Ambassador Yamagami making points that when a Chinese diplomat threatens to behead the prime minister, that it took two, three, four days for us to finally issue a response. But all that did is galvanise the Japanese people to rally even harder behind Prime Minister Takaichi because they believe… They’re so proud of their nation, their history. Of course, they have some troubles, but at the same time, if you go to Japan, they are one of the loveliest people you can possibly imagine. Words like [foreign language 00:06:38] which means kindness or [foreign language 00:06:40] which means to help out your fellow neighbours and so on. That’s basically the core of the culture, and that’s why I think so many people enjoy going there.
We’re actually having an over tourism backlash in Japan because more and more tourists are deciding to do ridiculous TikTok videos aboard subway trains, singing and carrying on like buffoons. And we even had a situation where the Australian embassy had to issue a letter to visitors to make sure that during the [foreign language 00:07:09] season where people go to clean the graves with their ancestors and put ceremonial beer or wine or chips or whatever it is on top of the gravestones, we had Aussie tourists stealing the beers off the top of these sorts of things, and this is where the culture-
Andrew Bolt:
Oh, for goodness sake, Mike.
Michael Newman:
But this is exactly where the Japanese are now with tourism. It’s like even we want our tourists to fit in when they come and visit. We don’t have a problem with tourists coming in.
Andrew Bolt:
Good stuff.
Michael Newman:
But this is the sort of people-
Andrew Bolt:
Well, there’s a life lesson for Australians, particularly the ones that were arrested in Bali with that porn star. God, how embarrassing we are in Bali. Mia Schlicht, Mike Newman, thank you so much to you both.
This transcript with Mia Schlicht on The Bolt Report Sky News Australia has been edited for clarity.
