Australia is ready to slash immigration numbers after the country set a record for arrivals over the past 12 months under its current left-wing Labor government.
The country’s surging population has boosted demand for everything from housing to transport and dining out all while stoking inflation pressures.
Australia’s inflation rebounded in the September quarter, with fuel (up 7.2 percent), rents (up 2.2 percent), new dwelling purchases (up 1.3 percent) and electricity (up 4.2 percent) contributing the most.
The central bank estimates population growth, following a surge in coronavirus immigration, accelerated to a peak of 2.5 percent in the third quarter of this year.
A crackdown on abuses of Australia’s intake of overseas students has been mooted as part of the plan to reduce numbers alongside efforts to defeat “systemic” visa fraud and exploitation.
“What we know is that we need to have a migration system that enables Australia to get the skills that we need but make sure the system is working in the interests of all Australians,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Sydney on Saturday, the Guardian reports.
“Well, we are determined to fix this.”
Albanese said there was always going to be a jump in immigration after Covid-19 although current projections were lower than those prior to Australia shutting its borders during the pandemic.
File/A man arrives at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection offices in Sydney, Thursday, April 20, 2017. Australia plans to tighten its citizenship rules to require higher English language skills, longer residency and evidence of integration such as a job. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
A review, conducted by former Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet head Martin Parkinson, had found concerning abuses of Australia’s acceptance of international students, the prime minister said.
“People are coming here, enrolling in courses that don’t really add substantially to either their skills base or to the national interest here,” he said.
“So it’s not in the interests of our neighbours, nor is it in the interests of Australia, that there not be a crackdown on this.”
The crackdown will strive to mirror the former conservative government’s success in defeating illegal boat arrivals by simply deporting any and all who land on Australia’s shores via people smugglers.
A Treasury estimate earlier this year of Australia’s net immigration intake for 2022-23 at a tick more than 400,000 has been well exceeded.
The latest data from the Bureau of Statistics show the population grew by 2.2 percent to 26.5 million in the year to March, with net migration reaching a record 454,400 for the period, twice the amount of the decade average.
More than 500,000 people are expected to come into Australia this calendar year, ABC News reports.
The next Australian federal election will be held some time during or before 2025.