Media Release
15 December 2024
The Australian population grew by 2.4 per cent (624,100 people) in the year to 30 June 2023, according to figures just released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Net overseas migration contributed 518,100 - an all-time record.
This is a growth rate typical of Third World countries, not a rich country in the OECD, according to Sustainable Population Australia (SPA). The average population growth rate for OECD countries is 0.6 per cent. Other countries with a 2.4 per cent growth rate include Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and the Republic of Congo.
"These outrageously high migration numbers suggest the government totally lost control," says SPA national president Jenny Goldie. "No wonder infrastructure is not keeping pace. No wonder people can't afford a home - the demand is too great."
Government claims to be halving migration are misleading, Ms Goldie says.
"By the government's own estimates, Australia's net migration for the remainder of this decade will be higher than it has ever been before," she says. "The government is estimating new migration of up to a quarter of a million people per year, way higher than at any time prior to the pandemic.
"To be sustainable, net immigration needs to be below 80,000 annually, which was about the average in the second half of the 20th century.
"The government must do more than simply tweak its migration policy. First it has to set it within an overall population policy. Second, that population policy has to be based on ecological sustainability.
"High migration, by adding to population growth, contributes to loss of habitat through urban and agricultural expansion. Every year we see more Australian species are added to the endangered list. Population growth is destroying homes for wildlife as well as creating a housing crisis for people."
Ms Goldie says SPA has long called for Australia to train its own people rather than simply import skilled people. Most of the claimed skills shortages are caused by high population growth generating demand, so bringing in more people only exacerbates the problem.
"When we take people from poorer countries that can ill afford to lose those they have trained, it is a case of poaching. It is unethical.
"We are a rich country. We have the capacity to train our own, be it in the professions or trades. As a priority we should be training a skilled workforce to speed our transition from fossil fuels to renewables to mitigate climate change.
"If we are serious about securing a sustainable future, we would permanently reduce immigration to levels that will not add to the growth of our population. The more we grow, the more we lose from the natural environment and our quality of life. We could stabilise with 60,000-80,000 migrants per year, returning to just under average levels in the post war decades," says Ms Goldie.
