Britain itself already has a points-based system for would-be immigrants from outside the EU. You might remember that it was introduced by Labour in 2008 after years of refusal to discuss immigration. It was toughened up by the coalition after that.

It isn’t actually much like Australia’s points-based system, but one feature it does have in common is that it lets in quite a large number of migrants. The UK issued under 100,000 visas to non-Europeans in 2000 and now issues around double that. The system is also very bureaucratic.

You might wonder, then, what it is that Brexiteers want to emulate about the Australian system. A statement released by the Brexit campaign suggested repeatedly that immigration would be lower if we left the EU and adopted such a system, reducing the strain on hospitals, schools and workers who face intense competition for jobs from migrants. There is no guarantee of that.

The Aussie system does have some points in its favour for immigration hawks. Firstly, it has more effective border checks, so that authorities can actually count who comes in and out. Getting hold of precise Australian immigration data is unbelievably straightforward compared to parsing our muddled numbers. Secondly, it targets skilled workers, whereas Britain has to accept an unlimited number of unskilled workers from Europe. And Australia’s favoured countries of origin for its immigrants are remarkably similar to ours outside the EU, including India, China and Pakistan.