Immigration consensus shatters: NSW Government demands cut

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By Leith van Onselen

A day after the federal Labor Opposition finally admitted that mass immigration is crushing wages, the NSW Government has admitted that the migrant intake is “out of control” and has demanded it be cut in half. From SBS News:

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants to halve the number of overseas migrants entering her state and thinks state and territory leaders deserve a seat at the table when the federal government draws up immigration policies…

“We definitely need to take a breather and look at the numbers,” she told Nine Network on Wednesday.

NSW has a net inflow of about 45,000 people a year at the time Liberal prime minister John Howard was in power, compared to around 100,000 today…

“My government is building more roads and rail, schools and hospitals than ever before in our state,” she said.

“We are playing catch up and we do need to take a breather to make sure we have that infrastructure in place, to make sure our infrastructure growth is sustainable”…

“The states have never had a voice when it comes to immigration and population policy and I think that needs to change,” she said.

“The states are the ones that need to build the infrastructure to make sure we can handle a sustainable population.”

Meanwhile, NSW Opposition Leader, Luke Foley, has repeated his call for lower immigration:

“Only a few months ago, the Premier said the current rate of immigration was about right,” he said.

“The population of Sydney soared from 4 to 5 million during the life of this Government. They’ve been happy with that.

“This is a belated conversion from the Premier I think it says more about the political difficulties she’s in after the last few weeks.”

In February, Mr Foley said a reduction in the migrant intake number would give Sydney a chance to catch up on infrastructure, but he came under fire for comments he made about a “white flight” from some of Sydney’s western suburbs.

“You have to say Australia’s largest city Sydney is groaning under the weight of congestion,” he said.

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This is a paradigm shift in the immigration debate. We’ve always said that the immigration battle would be won in NSW, given the extreme pressures being felt in Sydney.

The NSW Government’s capitulation, which follows the Labor Opposition’s demands for lower immigration, shows just how toxic mass immigration has become politically. The federal government will soon be forced to cut.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.