Concerns over migration have led the Vote Leave camp to claim an Australian-style immigration system is the answer. Others say it’s a ‘red herring’.

The antipodean nation has repeatedly been thrust into the spotlight of the Brexit debate over high profile calls from Vote Leave that it could be the country to emulate.

Leave supporters Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage want the UK to adopt an “Australian-style points based immigration system” if the country leaves the EU.

On Tuesday evening former London mayor Mr Johnson called for it in a BBC debate watched live by 6000 people at Wembley arena, saying it would be a great alternative to EU migration if the UK votes for their “independence day”.

Vote Leave think the Aussie system will help level the playing field between those from EU nations and Commonwealth countries who want to live and work in the UK.

“Those seeking entry for work or study should be admitted on the basis of their skills without discrimination on the ground of nationality,” Vote Leave leaders have said.

“To gain the right to work, economic migrants will have to be suitable for the job in question. For relevant jobs, we will be able to ensure that all those who come have the ability to speak good English. Such a system can be much less bureaucratic and much simpler than the existing system for non-EU citizens.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses Remainers in Bristol on the last day of campaigning. Picture: Geoff CaddickSource:AFP

Immigration is the trump card for the leave campaign in a vote polls show is too close to call. The UK has seen migration levels at record highs in the past two years and many fear unrestricted access for EU migrants threatens to overwhelm health and housing services in the UK.

That’s despite figures which show when it comes to country of birth, more foreign-born UK residents come from outside the EU than in, according to fact checking charity, Full Fact.

The group said just more than three million people living in the UK were born in Europe, while 5.2 million were born outside the EU. That’s around 4.75 per cent European compared to 8.25 per cent from other countries with a total foreign-born population of around 13 per cent.

Australia’s migration system is capped at around 190,000 visas per year split between skilled migrants and family and humanitarian visas.

Skilled visas are either employer-sponsored or independent where applicants get points based on their language skills, education, qualifications and employment experience.

The theory is that allowing for points lets governments fill skills gaps by cherry picking workers for specific jobs. However critics say it doesn’t account for the fact skills can be learned and relies on governments to accurately identify and react to developing needs in the economy.

The UK debate has also made no mention of the fact Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program has been repeatedly slammed by international bodies including the United Nations for violating the convention against torture by holding children in immigration detention centres.

It’s an aspect of the system then Australian prime minister Tony Abbott dismissed in 2015 by saying Australians were “sick of being lectured to” by the UN.

Now, the Australian Greens are pushing for a royal commission into children in detention to take place in the next parliament. An estimated 50 children were held on the off shore processing centre in Nauru as of March this year — a place where a 23-year-old Iranian man recently set himself on fire after being held for three years in one of a number of cases of self-immolation on the island.

UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage has been one of the major advocates for leaving the EU. Picture: AFP/Niklas Halle'nSource:AFP

In the UK, Oxford University’s Migration Observatory said whether an “Australian-style points based system” would be adopted and how it would work was one of the major unresolved questions of the debate.

Director Madeleine Sumption said it was a “red herring” that distracted from the real question as to whether the UK would leave the single market and restrict EU migration.

“If it does, designing a new immigration system will be a hugely complex task. A points-based system would be one of several options, but it would be a surprising choice in some respects,” she said.

“After all, an ‘Australian-style’ points system was introduced under Labour and closed by the Conservatives because of their concerns that it was not well suited to the UK’s needs or their goal of reducing net migration.”

Leading Remain campaigners Stronger in Europe, said the antipodean idea could “wreck” the UK economy as it would mean leaving the single market.

Migration Watch UK has also said it would be “thoroughly unsuitable” for the UK based on the fact the “Australian context could hardly be more different”.

“Many Australians believe that they have a strategic need to grow and have the space to do so. Both major parties favour increased legal migration and their points based system is a means to that end,” it said in a recent assessment.

Voting in the EU referendum starts from 4pm today (AEST).