Jaimee Rogers:
Welcome back. Well, Sydney is changing and new figures reveal just how quickly in the three years from 2023 to ’25, more than 350,000 overseas migrants settled in Sydney, while at the same time, more than 113,000 existing residents packed up and left for other parts of the country. In fact, overseas migration accounted for 108% of Sydney’s population growth. That’s enough to replace those leaving and then some. For more on this, Institute of Public Affairs research assistant, Jordan Abou-Zeid. Jordan, overseas migration, as I just mentioned, has accounted for 108% of Sydney’s population growth. While we’re seeing existing residents leaving for other parts of the country, what does that tell us about what’s happening to the city?
Jordan Abou-Zeid:
What we know is that 86% of migrants that come to Australia come to one of our capital cities. About half of that come to either Sydney or to Melbourne. And so combined with Australians more and more leaving those cities, what we’re seeing is that the Australians who made our cities what they are, are being pulled further and further away from its heart as they live more and more on the outskirts, on the edges of the city that they built.
Jaimee Rogers:
Jordan, when that amount of people leave Sydney to go somewhere else, shouldn’t governments then be asking a pretty basic question of why are Sydneysiders voting with their feet and fleeing?
Jordan Abou-Zeid:
It’s absolutely a question they should be asking. It’s something the state government should be asking. It’s something the federal government should be asking. I mean, why exactly are the grandchildren of the people who built the Sydney Opera House leaving Sydney? Why exactly are the grandchildren of the people who built the Sydney Harbour Bridge leaving Sydney? I think what we’re seeing is not a changing Sydney, but rather a disappearing Sydney, which is an incredible tragedy.
Jaimee Rogers:
And Parramatta, they gained almost 50,000 overseas migrants in just three years, but then at the same time they lost 26,000 residents. So are we effectively just replacing people who can no longer afford to live in Sydney with new arrivals?
Jordan Abou-Zeid:
That seems to be what the data indicates. And somewhere where we’re seeing this process happen at a far higher rate in a far more aggressive way is in England where an uncontrolled illegal migration programme has allowed the formation of vast communities of people who share very little in common with the British identity or culture more broadly. Australia is not in that position, but if we don’t solve our migration problem, we do begin on a path to an England style scenario. That’s why I think it’s important for policymakers to take migration seriously. And I think that Australia has time to get migration right.
Jaimee Rogers:
So when you are looking around the country, and obviously we were just talking about the numbers in Sydney, but what’s happening in other cities like Melbourne? Are they starting to see a similar pattern to what’s happening in Sydney?
Jordan Abou-Zeid:
Our research indicates that people seem to leave Sydney and then go to Melbourne. And then in cities like Melbourne, they then leave and go to Perth or they go to Brisbane or they go to the regions. I mean, this doesn’t just have economic consequences. Large people movements of Australians out of the places where they live damages our social fabric. It damages communities. In my personal experience, my family left Victoria to head up to Sydney… Not Sydney, to Queensland rather, because they believe that that was a better choice for them, but that has left a hole in their local community. It’s made things harder and harder.
Jaimee Rogers:
So, Jordan, I think going into the next election, migration levels, this is going to be an enormous policy. What do you think the annual intake should be? And this is based on your analysis. What’s the number you’d like it to see it come down to? What would you be advising Labour or the Coalition or One Nation?
Jordan Abou-Zeid:
Well, I think it’s true that Australians are an incredibly generous people, that they feel that that generosity has somehow been betrayed or ignored by their governments. I feel like if anyone is listening to what the Australian people are screaming out, it’s that they quite simply believe there are too many foreigners in their country. The IPA believes in Australia, it believes in Australians, and they would like to see a migration number far below 100,000 per year. But ultimately, this discussion doesn’t belong to me or you, it belongs to the Australian people and their dialogue with political parties.
Political parties shouldn’t be making backroom deals or secret consensuses on migration. They should boldly go to the Australian people, seek to restore their trust, hear what they’re saying. Like you said, this will be a migration election.
Jaimee Rogers:
Yes, I think it’s certainly going to be shaping up to that. Jordan, I appreciate your time tonight. We will speak to you again soon.
This transcript with Jordan Abou-zeid talking on The Bond Report – News24 from 11 September 2026 has been edited for clarity.
