Opening Statement to the Senate Productivity Inquiry

Thursday 30 July 2026

On Wednesday, I presented expert evidence to the Senate Select Committee on Productivity in Australia. Below is my opening statement.

In February 2023, former Labor Home Affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, delivered the AFR Workforce Summit Keynote address, where she stated that Australia’s immigration system was “broken”, “unstrategic” and “is not delivering for business, for migrants, or for our population”.

Minister O’Neil lamented that the number of temporary migrants in Australia has “exploded”, noting how “in 2007 we had about 1 million temporary migrants in Australia, excluding visitor and transit visas. Today that number is 1.9 million”.

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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.