“Melbourne has been growing faster than any other part of Australia on the back of unprecedented overseas migration in the immediate years following the covid-19 pandemic,” said Dr Kevin You, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs.
IPA analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data on net migration flows in the first three full financial years under the Albanese government (between the 2023 and 2025 financial years) reveals the following:
- More than a quarter (27 per cent) of Australia’s net overseas migrants between the 2023 and 2025 financial years, totalling 349,476 people, settled in just one city: Melbourne.
- Net overseas migration has been responsible for about 86 per cent of Melbourne’s population growth (which was 407,170 across the three post-pandemic financial years).
- A net of 28,886 former Melbournians have left the city between the 2023 and 2025 financial years, to live in regional Victoria and interstate.
“Net overseas migration to Melbourne has been four times the size of its natural increase in the three financial years immediately after the pandemic. Over that period, former Melburnians have been leaving the city, significantly changing the composition of Melbourne’s population,” said Dr You.
Table: Components of population growth for the financial years ending 2023 to 2025
The IPA’s 2026 State Economic Scorecard ranked Victoria second last across Australia’s six states due to its sluggish per capita economic growth, underwhelming wage growth, and heavy tax and debt burden.
“A consequence of years of atrocious government policies and policy implementation has been that even after lockdowns have ended, Australians are still leaving Melbourne and its immediate surrounds.
“Migration has been an important part of Australia’s national story. But immigration needs to be properly planned, have the consent of the community, and be targeted towards areas of economic need,” said Dr You.
