Tone Wheeler, president of the Australian Architecture Association, has penned an article in The SMH claiming that “to save suburbia, we’ll need to destroy much of it”.
“We’re ruining that suburban dream by building houses twice as big on blocks half the size, devoid of gardens and trees, further from city centres and amenities, and with fewer residents in each home”, Wheeler says.
“We should build infill housing in existing areas”.
“These homes include granny flats, duplexes and triplexes, “low and close” multi-dwellings on amalgamated sites or undeveloped land, and apartments or co-living projects such as shop-top housing within walking distance of public transport”.
“We will have to build at least 100,000 new homes every year”, Wheeler claims.
“The better approach is to build those 100,000 houses within our existing suburbs”.
“We need radical new approaches to save suburbia from itself”.
To be fair, Wheeler makes some sensible suggestions in his article. However, not once does he mention the primary driver of Australia’s housing shortages, its suburban sprawl, and the reason why we “have to build at least 100,000 new homes every year”.
This driver is mass immigration.
Australia’s housing construction has failed to keep up with demand because population growth accelerated following the doubling of immigration from 2006:
Australia’s immigration intake more than doubled after 2005.
Australia’s net overseas migration (NOM) was a record high 400,000 in 2022, according to Westpac.
And the latest Intergenerational Report (IGR) projects that NOM will average 235,000 people a year indefinitely, which is 20,000 more than the 15-years of ‘Big Australia’ immigration pre-COVID:
Mass immigration forever.
This extreme immigration will grow Australia’s population by 13.1 million people (50%) over the 40 years to 2062, according to the IGR, which is the equivalent to adding a combined Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Australia’s existing population:
Australia population to grow by a combined Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in only 40 years!
Such a population deluge will necessarily bulldoze our suburbs into higher density, as well as shrink outer suburban lot sizes.
If you don’t like this outcome, Tone Wheeler, how about lobbying against ‘Big Australia’ mass immigration?
