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Yesterday morning the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, called a general election for 21st August. This, of course, has been expected for several weeks ever since the deposition of the former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. It does mean, though, while the government is in caretaker role, a number of expected policy changes are likely to be put on hold including the long awaited review of the Points Test.

As in the recent election in the UK, immigration policy is a significant theme in this year's election with a lot of hot air being wasted on the issue of asylum seekers. This is deflecting attention from more serious issues about immigration including the worsening skills shortage - particularly in the growth states like Western Australia and Queensland. A related issue is the ongoing population debate. Julia Gillard is not a proponent of a 'big' Australia and is arguing for a more sustainable approach to population growth.

No doubt we will hear more bout this over the coming weeks as the election gathers pace. In the meantime it is worth looking at the following figures that show where Australia's new settler arrivals came from last year.

• New Zealand  25,578 16%
• United Kingdom  21,545 13%
• India  17,283  10%
• China  15,803  10%
• South Africa  7,201  5%
• Philippines  5,942  3%
• Iraq  4,130  3%
• Sri Lanka 4,078 3%
• Malaysia 3,324  2%
• Vietnam  2,898  2%
• Korea 2,805

The total number of new settlers was 158,021. Refugees accounted for 13507 or just over 8.5% of the total.