Why ‘just build more’ is a ‘Big Australia’ smokescreen

Apologists for the ‘Big Australia’ mass migration policy frequently argue that the nation experienced high rates of immigration in the post-war period without posing problems and that the solution to complaints about congestion and shortages is to simply ‘build more’. This view is misguided for several reasons.

A quick examination of the data does show that net overseas migration as a share of the population was slightly higher in the 1950s and similar in the 1960s.

However, this is cold comfort to Australians living in our major cities who have experienced explosive growth in the number of new residents.