The Policy and Resources Committee hope to introduce a system of registration to monitor all such arrivals as the first step towards establishing a new population policy.The monitoring is most likely to be through use of smart cards.
It remains P & R’s intention – as with the previous committee – to introduce a licensing system to control those arriving in the Island.But P & R president Senator Frank Walker said that they had to monitor inward migration before they could seriously consider regulating it.’We must take a step-by-step approach to what is a complex subject,’ he said.
‘Anyone looking for quick and easy answers does not understand the matter.’He added that there was no rush to introduce a migration policy because figures demonstrated that there was no immigration problem.
Although there was a significant influx of people each year, this was balanced with an similar outflow, he said.P & R this morning lodged their long-awaited proposals on population after those put forward by the previous committee were formally withdrawn in the States.
