How Labor raised permanent migration by stealth

When the Albanese government came to office, it quickly raised Australia’s permanent migrant intake by 30,000 to 195,000 annually. It also raised the humanitarian intake by around 7,000 annually to 20,000.

The permanent migration intake has since been reduced back to 185,000. So, along with the 20,000 annual humanitarian intake, the official permanent migrant program is currently 205,000, around 31,000 higher than the final year of the Morrison Coalition government:

The number of temporary visas on issue is also tracking at a record high, with nearly half a million more temporary migrants in Australia than the pre-Covid peak:

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

Share

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.