Philippe Legrain

On ABC RN’s Sunday Extra with Hugh Riminton on 20 April Listen here.

Despite the huge challenges they face, refugees are the most entrepreneurial migrants in Australia – and are nearly twice as likely to start a business as Australian taxpayers in general. Read my piece in the Guardian to coincide with the publication of my new study for the Centre for Policy Development and OPEN on refugee […]

Read my latest for Foreign Policy Listen to my interview with Hamish Macdonald for ABC Radio National Breakfast Watch my contribution to a panel discussion on Al Jazeera English’s Inside Story

House prices in Australia have soared over the past decade: they are now two-and-a-half times what they were in 2000. While prices dipped a little at the height of the global financial crisis, they have since resumed their onward rise. In fact, they rose a whopping 20% in the 12 months to the end of […]

Kevin Rudd made tackling climate change the centerpiece of his winning election campaign in 2007. Once in government, he announced plans to introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme in Australia in 2011 with the aim of cutting emissions by at least 5 per cent by 2020 (from 2000 levels). But these were stymied when the […]

In an election year, Kevin Rudd takes a page out of John Howard’s book. Despicable.

The Big Issue, 9 February 2009.

 (Andrew Brownbill/EPA) The Australian Prime Minister accused arsonists of “mass murder” today as the death toll from savage bushfires sweeping parts of the country reached 131. What on earth motivates people to start fires like that? It's horrific.

A German doctor whose family was twice denied permanent residency in Australia because of his son’s Down syndrome has been allowed to stay after the immigration minister intervened on his behalf. Dr. Bernhard Moeller moved to Australia with his wife and three children nearly three years ago when he was hired to work as a […]

One of the privileges of speaking about global migration issues is that I have come into contact with exceptional people who devote their lives to helping the less fortunate. Sue and Peter Hallam set up the Sanctuary Refugee Foundation in 1988 after what they describe as ‘a life-changing experience’ in Mexico, where they spent time […]

I don’t have anything particularly insightful or sophisticated to say about the results of Australia’s election. I just want to celebrate John Howard’s defeat. What fantastic news! Let’s hope Labor delivers a fairer and more humane immigration policy that restores Australia’s tattered reputation and heals the wounds to the country’s vibrant multicultural society.

Australia’s Herald Sun reports that: A British migration expert said yesterday Australia should open its borders to unskilled rather than skilled Asian migrants to do the dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs locals shunned. Philippe Legrain, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute, also accused the Government of racism over its approach […]

I am currently in Melbourne, attending and speaking at the 12th international Metropolis conference on migration. Yesterday I spoke about migration and the global economy, and tomorrow I’ll be speaking on the benefits of diversity.

I was a guest on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters on 5 July, talking about opening borders. I was severely jetlagged, but hopefully not completely incoherent. Listen to it here

I’m just back from the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, which was great. The 24-hour flight and 8 1/2-hour time difference are still killers though. I participated in a discussion about the future of India and China on my first evening at the festival, which was rebroadcast on ABC’s programme The National Interest. I also gave […]

I’m delighted to be speaking at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas next week. I’m talking at three events on Thursday 5 July and Friday 6 July. For more details, see the schedule. I’m also due to be interviewed on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters show on Thursday 5 at 8:45am Adelaide time, or 9:15am Sydney […]

When I was last in Australia in February, I appeared on ABC’s Mornings with Margaret Throsby, a radio interview show interspersed with my favourite pieces of classical music. I just found the recording today, so I’m putting it up now. It’s a much more relaxed and broad-ranging interview than most. Listen to it here

Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers has long been shockingly inhumane. But prime minister John Howard’s latest policy twist is truly despicable: he plans to "swap" would-be refugees held in the country’s illegal offshore detention centres with Cuban and Haitian detainees the US is holding in Guantanamo Bay. People are to be treated as chattel, shipped […]

The West Australian, 17 February 2007. Australia
would benefit from more immigrants, but the Howard government’s preoccupation with skilled migrants is a mistake

Adelaide Advertiser, 10 February 2007. A more relaxed immigration policy would benefit Australia’s economy, workforce and ageing population