With immigration soaring to stratospheric heights above 10,000 per week, there have been calls to halt immigration, at least until housing and infrastructure catch up. Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) says it just needs to be reduced, not eliminated altogether.
Immigration is only an issue because it is the main contributor to population growth and, therefore, all the challenges that endless population growth brings with it, including enormous environmental harm. If we wish to see acrimonious debate about immigration disappear from the political arena, we need only reduce it to a sustainable number.
SPA believes that Australia's population should not exceed 30 million. In June 2024, it is 27.3 million.
SPA national president Peter Strachan says net overseas migration (NOM) should be reduced below 70,000 per year to keep population below 30 million, assuming fertility remains around 1.6 children per woman.
"We understand calls for an end to immigration in light of the dire effect that adding a million migrants in two years had on the housing market, as well as on infrastructure and services," says Mr Strachan.
"Over the past 20 years, immigration has been far too high, based on the false claim that we lack sufficient skilled workers. The resultant population growth has created more skills shortages than it has filled.
"The real reasons for mass immigration are to keep wages low and house prices rising. This is not in the interests of Australians, nor the interests of migrants who are among the disadvantaged for both jobs and housing.
"Within a sustainable immigration program of 70,000 per year, Australia could host temporary international students and Pacific Island guest workers, as long as similar numbers leave as arrive each year. We can maintain the refugee intake at 20,000 and still have room for the skilled migrants employers want to sponsor, along with their family members.
"However, Australia should stop importing people on points-tested visas, who tend not to get skilled jobs. The only reason the government does this is to push immigration above the numbers employers want. This drives consumption and GDP up, but productivity and per capita GDP go down.
"A stable population below 30 million would make it easier to mitigate climate change and conserve our ecosystems. It would let infrastructure catch up and ease crowding in schools and hospitals. It would improve prospects for the migrants and allow a gradual restoration of housing affordability. This is what prosperity looks like, not pursuing GDP growth through immigration at the expense of everything else."
