Immigration has provided 'marginal economic benefit', says the assistant minister. A lot rides on what happens next. By Gareth Hutchens, ABC News

Matt Thistlethwaite, the federal assistant minister for immigration, spoke to the Sydney Institute a few weeks ago. He explained how the Albanese Labor government was planning to fix Australia's broken migration system.

And he said something damning."For many decades Australia hasn't had a migration plan. We haven't had a migration strategy," he said.

A review in to Australia's migration system finds that temporary migrant workers are frequently "exploited" with the current system contributing to the risk of that. "As a result, Australia's migration policies have lacked direction and purpose. "Migration's been unresponsive to Australia's needs. It has provided marginal economic benefit and hasn't enhanced labour productivity.

Immigration has provided 'marginal economic benefit', says the assistant minister. A lot rides on what happens next. By Gareth Hutchens, ABC News