More than one immigrant arrived in Australia every minute during the last calendar year, shock new figures show.
An analysis of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics migration data by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) shows that the Labor government has already exceeded its migration target for the 2023-24 financial year, with one month still to come.
Despite promising to cut immigration due to its negative effects on Australia’s housing and cost-of-living crises, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has presided over a net migration intake of 445,510 between July 2023 and May 2024, already exceeding the financial year forecast of 395,000 made in the May Budget.
This calendar year an average 1,607 migrants arrived in Australia each day, working out to more than one each minute, and the year to date net permanent and long-term arrivals between January and May 2024 was the highest on record at 242,750. This exceeded the previous record, set in 2023, which was 208,090, by 17%.
The May 2024 monthly net intake was the second highest May on record at 25,940, behind May 2023, when net intake was 31,310.
“The latest ABS data confirms the federal government is simply not interested in delivering on its promise to reduce Australia’s record migration surge, and will dramatically overshoot its net overseas migration commitment,” Dr Kevin You, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, said.
“The Prime Minister’s commitment to halve the annual migration intake, made just two months ago, is not worth the paper it is written on, and is yet another broken promise from a government which is making it harder for mainstream Australians to get ahead.
“The latest data reinforces that Australia’s migration program is being run in the interests of big business and universities bureaucracy, not the Australian people.
Dr You added that the current cost-of-living crisis was “brought on by unplanned mass migration”, and referred to previous IPA research showing that Australians in 2023 were approximately $7,848 poorer on a per capita basis due to the country’s reliance immigration.
“Never before has GDP per capita declined for more than a year, now totalling five quarters. Today, Australians are, on an individual basis, in recession and getting left further behind when the nation’s cost of living crisis is already acute,” Dr You said.
“Australia’s dismal economic conditions reflect the federal government’s lack of vision and ambition for the nation. Its only trick for growing the economy seems to be by increasing migration alone.
“Migration has and will continue to play a critical role in Australia’s story. However, the current unplanned, record migration intake is placing immense pressure on housing costs and our infrastructure, has not solved our worker shortage crisis and has left Australians worse off.”
In December last year the government predicted the 2023-24 net migration intake would be 375,000, up from 315,000 in last year’s budget, but in the May Budget revised that figure upwards to 395,000.
According to the IPA’s analysis that has already been exceeded by 50,000, and looks like to end up being about 80,000 too low, casting doubt over Labor’s forecasts for the coming years.
Next financial year 260,000 are expected, 255,000 the year after that, and 235,000 in 2026-27 and 2027-28, according to treasury papers.
Added to the 528,000 net overseas migration number last year, this would mean a total net intake of 1.9 million between 2022 and 2028, assuming the forecasts are accurate.
