The Greens are enemies of housing affordability and the environment

The Australian Greens used to care about the impacts of population growth on Australia’s natural environment.

However, as documented in Green Left Weekly in 1998, fears of being associated with Pauline Hanson’s “racist” and “xenophobic” views caused The Greens to abandon their policy of “stabilising” Australia’s population and “a zero net migration policy” to one of opposing cuts to immigration.

Accordingly, The Greens stood by silently as Australia’s population swelled by 7.6 million people this century on the back of record levels of net overseas migration:

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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.