Immigrants are not GDP datapoints - we are human
By Varsha Yajman
Economics alone cannot fight the racist anti-immigration ideologies that are seeping into the mainstream, writes Varsha Yajman.
Want to support our work? Cheek is offering 30% off annual subscriptions until June 30, meaning you can get access to ALL of our content for just $49 a year!!
“Migration makes Australia stronger.”
“Immigrants are a net positive to the Australian economy.”
“Diversity improves productivity.”
These are a few of the many phrases used to justify the existence of immigrants like myself, a second-generation immigrant from India.
While perhaps done in good faith to combat rising anti-immigrant rhetoric, these phrases treat immigrants as data points on a graph - our value dependent on how Australia’s GDP is faring, rather than seeing us as humans.
When the cost of living is rising and inflation is increasing, immigrants are becoming easy targets. And of course, this is the perfect time for conservative extremist parties to prop up their racist agenda, in the name of economic security and safety for Australians.
When did the boom in anti-immigrant sentiment begin?
Rataj Abdullah said she has “seen an increase in a different kind of racism” since the Bondi attack.
“I didn’t feel safe to leave the house, because every time I left the house, someone would be staring at me and just making looks and comments”, said Abdullah.
“I think it’s been more political in that sense; people believe the propaganda coming out of One Nation.”
Abdullah and her family, who are Eritreans, left Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. They spent a year in a transit refugee camp in Tunisia and were finally moved to Coffs Harbour in NSW in 2012 under the Regional Location Program.
Growing up as a refugee, a Black person and the only Hijabi at a predominantly white school, Abdullah said she “had so many experiences of racism,” and her experience moving to Sydney has not been any different.
“I feel like people expect the regions to be more racist, but in the past month, I’ve had 5 different experiences of racism, just being out and about in Sydney.”
While Abdullah understands why many people are using immigrants as a scapegoat for cost of living issues, she said, “their attitudes and opinions have been directed at the wrong people.”
But anti-immigrant sentiment is nothing new.
“Immigration panic” comes in waves
We are currently in a period of “immigration panic”, according to researchers Peter Mayer and Dr Sukhmani Khorana.
Their research on waves of anti-immigrant sentiment and moral panic in Australia found that “anti-immigrant sentiment and associated moral panic are a period of economic recession and rising unemployment.”
Khorana said the most recent bout of anti-immigration rhetoric, such as the 2025 rallies, has been fueled by inflation and the rising cost of living.
In her new project, Khorana’s research on the manifestation of anti-immigrant sentiment on social media, which targets those of South Asian descent in the Anglosphere, shows what she calls “economic faultlines… focused on repeated visibility produced on social media platforms that scapegoat migrants.”
“This scapegoating is not merely about prejudice, but shows that repeated attribution in the media can assign narrative blame to migrants and make them more visible even if that is not the case in people’s immediate neighbourhoods.”
Khorana said the result of this racism was that “most negatively racialised immigrant communities now report psychological harms, especially in public spaces”, leading to “heightened self-monitoring and a reduced sense of belonging over time.”
Khorana suggests people join anti-racist collectives or support groups, or even file a complaint, if they or someone they know experiences racism.
Facts about the productivity of immigrants are not the solution
When it comes to the conversations about how “useful” immigrants are, Moreblessing Maturure, who arrived in Australia from Zimbabwe at eight years old, said the use of statistics to counter anti-immigrant narrative is “futile at best and dehumanising at worst.”
Maturure said that this rhetoric “misdiagnoses the issue, which is a felt sense of grievance and abandonment by government, and seeks to alleviate that frustration with numbers.”
“I do believe truth matters and misinformation should be corrected; however, it’s misguided to think that any number will be satisfactory to those holding onto the claim.”
Giridharan Sivaraman, Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, echoes a similar sentiment, saying, “there’s a direct connection between political rhetoric that dehumanises migrants and the experience of people,” which is “cruel” as it is a threat to their sense of identity and safety.
“I think that sometimes people forget the very human experience of migration and what it’s like to learn about a society and to prosper.”
Abdullah also noted the Australian government’s complicity.
“A lot of us, our refugees and immigrants, because the Australian government has played a role in the reason why people’s home countries have been unsafe”, she said.
“Why do we feel we need to prove ourselves to this colony, to this government that’s actively harming First Nations people?”
Abdullah said attention needs to shift to issues such as the big fossil fuel corporations, which are not taxed on their exports, as well as the government’s investment in genocides overseas.
Action at the government level
When contacted for comment, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Dr Anne Aly, told Cheek that the Albanese Government’s practical steps to address this rise in anti-immigrant sentiment “include $500 million to strengthen multiculturalism, social cohesion and community priorities, and a coordinated evidence-based approach to tackling antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism wherever it occurs.”
Minister Aly described multiculturalism as one of Australia’s “greatest strengths.”
But not everyone agrees that the government is doing enough. Khorana noted that while “Albanese consistently makes remarks that support the multicultural fabric of the country”, his government’s actions do not reflect this.
“There is lip-service to ‘social cohesion’ when community responses to initiatives such as the envoy appointments are mixed,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sivaraman pointed to the impact of “unclear” terms like “social cohesion”, associated with “assimilation or shedding parts of your identity to be accepted into Australian society.”
“That in itself is a form of racism“, he said.
Both point to the importance of implementing the national anti-racism framework, a comprehensive roadmap developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to eliminate systemic and institutional racism across Australia. Commissioned by the Morrison Government in 2021, and released in 2024, the framework is still yet to be implemented.
“To date, responses to racism have been ad hoc and piecemeal and often pit communities against each other rather than coming up with solutions that help everyone”, said Sivaraman.
The framework, he explained, would be “the first ever whole government, whole society approach to tackling racism”.
For Khorana, who said racial literacy is vital to combat the dangerous rhetoric, the framework is key to ensuring a “collective and structural response in realms such as law, education, media and arts, and health” - rather than “holding already vulnerable individuals responsible for their own protection”.
Minister Aly told Cheek that the anti-racism framework is “being carefully considered along with other important pieces of work as part of our work to build a more inclusive, respectful and cohesive Australia”.
For Khorana, addressing racism and the hate speech that comes with it requires looking at its manifestation online, as these forms “are often the precursor to anti-immigrant rallies, attacks, and an overall fracturing of the multicultural social fabric.”
Meanwhile, Surivarman noted the importance of removing barriers that prevent migrants from having their work experience, skills and qualifications recognised, as well as ensuring truth-telling and treaty on a national scale for First Nations justice.
The solutions exist
The existence of anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric is nothing new, but statistics about the monetary value of immigrants cannot fight the ideology that is promoted by our elected representatives and in the mainstream media.
At the government level, it is clear that the solutions exist. It is imperative for the government to implement the Framework with genuine community consultation and to ensure that tackling racism goes beyond the superficial celebrations of multiculturalism on Harmony Day.
But to get through the everyday, Abdullah said she finds solace in being part of community advocacy, such as the Waterloo Public Housing campaign to save public housing, to show people that immigrants are not the reason for the housing shortage in Australia.
She said she also surrounds herself with people “who are really staunch in their politics and have a lot of a culture of care.”
About the author
Varsha Yajman is a lawyer, writer and advocate discussing the intersection across topics like climate justice, mental health and race.
So much 💯 commentary, really liked Abdullah’s points. In the literature it’s called mechanistic dehumanisation. Labor’s approach has been very much lip service while carrying out deeply dehumanising and complicit policies whether it is immigration, foreign policy or defence. Look at their love of skilled migration but dropping ball on parent and family reunions — as if immigrants are resources to be extracted from but never granted the balance that humans need. We need balance between our streams. New small parties like “Next” say they are independent on foreign policy etc but they are still treating migrants this way — skills only, no humanity. We can’t practice immigration policy this way.
I think Abdullah is absolutely on the mark in this essay. Why do we think of immigrants in terms of economics rather than humans deserving of empathy and compassion in their own right? It's an odd and sad fact that government sees immigration literally as a form of skill extraction when I see my immigrant friends as so much more than whatever good they have provided the economy. Until we come to terms with a fair and humanistic immigration policy you will continue to see the rise of the likes of One Nation that can do nothing more than bang on about the evils of immigration whilst trying to re-establish a "white" Australia policy. That ship sailed eons ago. Australia is exactly as it should be in terms of its multicultural composition and I'd not want it any other way! When you know better you should do better and Australia needs to do better by its indigenous people and its immigrant communities.