If we want a population policy that’s sustainable – and fair – we need to plan smarter, writes our resident Stats Guy.

Let’s face it – migration is a topic that sparks strong opinions. Some blame newcomers for high house prices and congested roads. Others say we need more migrants to keep the economy ticking over.

Australia is grappling with a serious and persistent skills shortage that only migration can fix. Our universities rely heavily on the money international students bring.

And yes, more people do mean more pressure on housing and infrastructure. But this isn’t a simple “more migrants = bad” equation. It’s a tangled web of interconnected policies – migration, housing, infrastructure, and workforce – that at the moment too often get managed in isolation.

That siloed approach has let our population grow faster than we can build homes or roads. We welcome more migrants to ease worker shortages and underwrite our university system, but we seemingly forget that they need homes, transport, and integration support.

If we want a population policy that’s sustainable – and fair – we need to plan smarter. That means acknowledging the ripple effects of big changes and putting guardrails in place to manage them.

We all want affordable housing, sparkling infrastructure, fair wages, and well-integrated communities. But these goals can come under pressure if migration levels climb too quickly.

That’s why I believe Australia needs a national demographic strategy – a clear set of long-term targets to align housing, migration, and infrastructure policies. Even more........

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