Australia’s immigration rate rises by a record 518,000 in one year – but Labor now accuses critics of excessive population growth of ‘playing politics’
A record 518,100 migrants moved to Australia in a year, with Labor critics now accusing them of “playing politics” as population growth hits its highest level since the early 1950s.
Net arrivals from overseas accounted for 83 per cent of Australia’s population growth in the 2022-2023 financial year, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Thursday showed.
A record 518,100 migrants moved to Australia in the year to June, compared to 106,100 net births, for an annual growth rate of 624,100.
The net immigration figure was even higher than the 510,000 numbers the Treasury Department had forecast in this week’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
As recently as the May Budget, the Treasury predicted that 400,000 migrants would move to Australia in 2022-2023, with this figure referring to permanent and long-term arrivals.
A record 518,100 migrants moved to Australia in a year, with Labor critics now accusing of ‘playing politics’ as population growth reaches its highest level since the early 1950s (pictured is Sydney’s Town Hall train station)
According to updated Treasury forecasts, released on Wednesday, 1.625 million migrants have moved to Australia in the five years to June 2027.
This was much higher than the 1.495 million over five years forecast in May.
Home Secretary Clare O’Neil on Monday pledged to reduce total arrivals by 185,000 in four years by cracking down on international students abusing the visa system.
But Treasury figures predicted that without this reduction, 1.805 million migrants would have arrived in the five years to mid-2027.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday night accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of “playing politics” when asked about his claim that Australia’s population was growing faster than previously predicted.
“Peter Dutton is notorious for playing politics on issues like this and he knows next to nothing about economics,” he told the ABC’s 7.30pm programme.
“He should know that what we are talking about here is that there would be 180,000 people on top of those different projections if we had not taken the steps we proposed on Monday when Clare released the migration strategy.
“He will play the usual Peter Dutton style negative and dirty politics.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday night accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of “playing politics” when asked about his claim that Australia’s population was growing faster than previously predicted
“Our job is to manage the economy and the interests of the Australian people.
“That means we need to put in place a strategy that will result in 180,000 fewer migrants than would have been the case in the updated forecast I published today.”
7.30’s summer host Laura Tingle noted that Dutton had cited the Treasury Department’s MYEFO figures released this week, but she failed to get Dr. Chalmers on this point, leaving out the total number in the five years to June 2027.
Australia’s population growth rate of 2.4 percent during the last financial year, or double the 1.2 percent rate of 20 years ago.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to power in May 2022, five months after Australia’s borders reopened.