The political debate about migration often boils down to a numbers game. The question is typically what the precise level should be and the answer depends on who you ask.
Clive Palmer says zero. Pauline Hanson says around 130,000. Angus Taylor says it should equal the number of dwelling completions (175,000 in 2024–25). Anthony Albanese has recently opted for the Treasury’s long-term estimate of 225,000. One Nation’s David Farley has said he is happy with 306,000.
This is a very wide range suggesting that there is not the slightest agreement about what the level of migration should be.
Part of the reason for this is political, but another reason is policy. Australia’s migration levels are rarely a result of careful and sophisticated planning, but it’s time they were.
Australia’s migration system lacks something crucial: a plan. By Peter McDonald, The Conversation