Treasury Secretary Morrison dismissed Albert`s call for a cut in immigration. Albert linked immigration with stagnant wage growth, infrastructure woes, high house prices and "minority gangs".
Albert called for fewer immigrants early last year, and on Tuesday he called for a reduction in the number of immigrants admitted from one hundred and ninety thousand to one hundred and ten thousand.
"my problem is not immigration per se, but immigration rates at a time of stagnant wages, infrastructure congestion, high house prices and, at least, gangs in Melbourne." Said Albert.
"the basic principle of economics is that increasing supply lowers wages; increasing demand pushes up house prices." He said。
Albert also attacked Turnbull goverment and Labour who dared not talk about it.
But Morrison disagreed with Albert`s analysis that reducing immigration would hurt the budget.
The finance minister also said Albert`s social and economic issues were beyond the level of permanent immigration.
"I can understand why people find such an idea attractive, if you can reduce the number of permanent immigrants to that effect. But let`s think about it. " Morrison told Radio 3AW.
"if this recommendation is adopted, the number of immigrants will be reduced by 80,000. This will cut revenue by 40-5 billion over the next four years. "
Morlinson said the population growth was due to temporary immigration, and the goverment has taken steps, including a crackdown on visas for overseas employees.
"but permanently reducing the admission of permanent immigrants, looking at the data, it is very difficult to do so, in fact, reducing immigration is the problem." He said。
Morrison also questioned Albert`s reference to immigration crime.
"if Albert says immigration leads to crime, I`m not sure if I can agree." Said Morrison.
"because you look at the figures, the unemployment rate for immigrants is not high. In many cases it is below the national average. And the second generation of immigrants. The descendants of immigrants have a higher education than the population as a whole. "
"the real problem is that when wages don`t rise and people`s interests are touched, they`re prone to blame others."
He said more Australians "would have felt the pain of wage and economic stagnation if they had not increased immigration over the past four or five years."
At a later meeting, Morrison added that demand-driven skilled migration helped fill skills shortages in important areas of the economy, warning that cutting immigration could be "like cutting your nose from your face."
Interior Secretary Dutton said last week that immigration could be cut "when we believe it`s in our national interest."
