The People vs. Big Australia: Albo’s housing crisis. By Alex Walsh.

We aren’t offered a choice on the big issues:

Do you recall Labor’s announcement during the 2022 election that it was going to increase immigration to record high levels? Do you remember Anthony Albanese’s election pledge that a Labor government would import more than 650,000 souls (in net terms) within two years and amid a housing crisis?

You don’t? Nor do I. In fact, Albo and his Labor cohorts never mentioned their Big Australia-on-steroids immigration plan at all prior to forming government.

As reported in The Australian last week, Labor has, without any prior warning to electors, almost doubled the former Coalition government’s already-high net migration target for 2022-23, from 180,000 to over 350,000 — enough people to almost fill a city the size of Canberra in a single year. That’s nearly a thousand new migrants a day, all requiring housing, infrastructure, and public services.

Albo’s immigration minister, Andrew Giles, has been throwing around visas like confetti, with more than 5.4 million temporary and migration visas ‘finalised’ since Labor came to power.

At 29.1 per cent, the foreign-born share of the resident population has eclipsed any previous historical peak and will continue rising rapidly. It is already higher than every other developed country. …

The Australian people want much lower immigration:

Our ruling class does everything it can to limit public debate about the appropriate rate of immigration to Australia. Annual immigration numbers are set behind closed doors, with usually only the voices of select rent-seeking business groups listened to. The views of ordinary Australians are contemptuously ignored. …

The Australian Population Research Institute asked voters in September last year about their views on immigration and population growth. Voters were asked in the survey whether they supported a restoration of pre-pandemic levels of immigration (around 240,000 a year) and whether they thought that Australia needed more people. The answers were negative on both counts.

Only 18 percent of survey respondents favoured a return to pre-pandemic immigration numbers, with a firm majority wanting lower levels of immigration. Only 35 per cent believed that Australia needed a bigger population.

Those opposed to Big Australia immigration rates named overcrowded cities, struggling hospital services, environmental stress, and escalating housing costs as among their key concerns.

Australia’s horrendous housing predicament alone is reason enough to put the brakes on immigration.

Relative to incomes, Australia has one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the developed world. Every day one reads yet another dire story about Australians being pushed into homelessness.

The rental market is an unfolding national catastrophe, with vacancy rates below one percent in the major cities and rents skyrocketing …

 

 

Clearly, Australia cannot provide adequate shelter for its existing population. Under such circumstances, adding an extra 350,000+ people over 12 months into the demand queue is a cruel and reckless act. …

What Australia urgently needs is a return to immigration levels more in line with the historical average, somewhere in the range of 70,000-90,000 a year. Slowing the pace of new arrivals would allow housing construction and infrastructure to catch up, ease pressure on our choking cities, support wage growth, reduce the strain on our natural environment, and improve national cohesion.