The influx of migrants to Australia hit a record number in January, despite the Albanese government’s plan to slow the wave of new arrivals, leading to what legendary businessman Dick Smith called a “disaster for families”.
Figures released last Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that 125,410 permanent and long-term migrants landed in Australia in January, the highest number ever recorded.
Even taking departures into account, the net increase in permanent and long-term arrivals in January was 55,330, or 40 percent higher than the highest January inflow recorded in 2009.
Mr Smith said Australia urgently needed “a population plan” to limit growth to about 75,000 people a year, adding that unless migration slowed we would reach the 100 million mark by the end of the century.
“Every Australian family has a plan to get the number of children they can give a good life to. However, at the rate we are going, the average Australian family will have fewer,” Mr Smith said, adding that he was “very much in favour of immigration” if it was done at a reasonable pace.
Last Thursday’s figures follow the government’s commitment to “put the brakes” on immigration numbers to bring them back to what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called “sustainable numbers”.
Daniel Wild, deputy executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, warned that the migration surge was hurting Australians.
“Immigration has played a critical role and will continue to do so, but it must be planned for, other- wise the huge pressure on house prices, rents, schools, roads and hospitals will only get worse,” he said.
Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan said: “New home approvals have fallen to their lowest point in a decade, while rents have risen by 26 per cent since the election.
These record arrival numbers will simply put more pressure on housing and rents.
Australians struggling to buy a home or even pay the rent will question this Labor government: Where will all these extra people live?”
