Here’s why Treasury loves Big Australia immigration

There are two key reasons why the Australian Treasury and by extension the federal government loves mass immigration:

1. Treasury only cares about the health of the federal budget, while ignoring impacts on state budgets and household budgets.
2. Treasury only cares about growing the economic pie (aggregate GDP), not everyone’s slice of the pie (GDP per capita) or broader livability and environmental impacts.

These two factors are the Australian Treasury’s key performance indicators (KPIs) that are narrowly focused and do not align with the broader interests of Australians.

In this regard, the Australian Treasury should be viewed similar the ‘growth lobby’ (i.e. Big Business, Big Property, and the education industry).