“Tony Burke is putting up the middle finger to the overwhelming majority of Australians who want cuts to migration. Refusing to cut the size of the government’s mass migration program is out of touch with the legitimate concerns of ordinary Australians,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs.
Today at his speech to the National Press Club, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed that the government will continue with mass migration as per the net overseas migration plan outlined in the government’s budget.
Burke explicitly said: “Today we are outlining the next stage of migration policies, and they are designed to deliver the Net Overseas Migration forecasts in the Budget of 245,000 in this financial year and 225,000 in 2027/28.”
“Tony Burke is in denial. His government is running the biggest mass migration experiment in Australia’s history. This is why the share of the Australian population born overseas is higher than any comparable country.”
“Tony Burke has rushed out these half-baked measures in response to One Nation taking the lead on the migration debate with its recent game-changing migration policy.”
Recent polling released by the Institute of Public Affairs confirms that Australians want deep cuts to migration numbers:
- 79% of Australians support a net overseas migration rate of 100,000 a year or lower, compared to the current intake of approximately 250,000.
- 60% of Australians believe there are too many migrants in Australia.
- 54% of Australians say they no longer recognise the country they grew up in.
“Burke is taking his cues from big corporates and the university lobby when he alleges that lower levels of migration will trash Australian services and trash the Australian economy. The reality is that the Albanese government has already trashed the economy, the main cause of which is mass migration. This is why per capita growth has gone backwards for 10 of the last 16 quarters.”
The IPA is calling on the government to introduce legislative and regulatory changes to address the current demand-driven migration system and include Australians in a real debate about the migration programme.
The fact that Burke today failed to outline a legislative ambition to fix the demand driven system which he concedes Australians no longer want shows that the government has no interest in listening to mainstream Australians, no interest in having a proper debate about mass migration, and no interest in fixing our migration system,” said Mr Wild.
To download the IPA’s research, click here.
