Migration

2025
Ken Henry's answer to that question actually explains a lot.
Australia should prioritise skilled migrants by using prices and incentives instead of queues and quotas.
2024
No quotas on international students (good riddance); how people think of money could cost Albanese at the next election; at least Australia's housing market still functions like a market; why Europe stagnates; the not-so Future Fund, trade thoughts, Elon Musk's incentives, and the future of war.
While quotas may seem like an easy fix for Australia's international student influx, a dynamic fee-based system would more efficiently balance demand, distribute benefits equitably, and avoid the perverse incentives of arbitrary caps.
Inflation is caused by fiscal and monetary policy, not by migrants or other supply shocks, which can only temporarily affect measured inflation by altering relative prices in the economy.
Why we shouldn't worry about migration; interpreting the monthly inflation figures; will AI displace financial market traders; should we worry about the 'pink tax'; and Albo's gift, on our behalves, to PNG's elites.
Australia's migration slowdown will ease housing issues but exacerbate its ageing population and fiscal problems, requiring unpopular entitlement reform and improved fertility rates to sustainably fund old-age benefits.
Peter Dutton claims cutting migration will free up over 100,000 homes and fix Australia's housing crisis. But his numbers don't add up and the impact will likely be minimal. Dutton's playing to anti-migration sentiment rather than addressing the real policy drivers behind unaffordable housing.
2023
The numbers are in: in 2022-23, Australia’s population grew by 624,100 people, or around 2.4%. That’s a huge figure – a record, in fact – and it was driven by the net addition of 518,090 overseas migrants. As you might expect, the media jumped all over it:
Australia has a long and successful history of immigration. Migrants contribute economically, help fill labour shortages, improve the country’s demographics and provide important cultural diversity. But as countries like Sweden have learned, migration can also present significant challenges.