Australia’s world beating migration intake

In the ongoing and eternal debate surrounding the right level of migration into Australia, there are often claims that the current level of migration into Australia is “normal” and that on these grounds criticism of the size of the intake should be dismissed.

While it’s certainly true that the magnitude of the intake is currently within the ballpark of what has at times unfolded historically, the reality is, on a longer-term time horizon, the situation is anything but normal.

As the chart below from Dr Cameron Murray of the think tank Fresh Economic Thinking illustrates, what we have seen in recent times is anything but normal on a long-term sustained basis.