The Coalition is trying to turn migration into a political flashpoint. But the long-term net overseas migration target under Labor is identical to the one projected under the Morrison government.

Angus Taylor is trying to make migration a major political issue, but amazingly a little reported fact is that the Albanese government’s future migration target is exactly the same as the Morrison government’s target.

The Coalition – spurred on by One Nation – seem determined to make migration a major political issue. It is easy to blame migrants for our problems, but realistically why should the Coalition’s future migration policy differ significantly from the past Liberal and Labor policies?

A big part of the Coalition’s attack on the government is their allegation that Australia has been letting in far too many migrants.

The reality is, however, that migration fell dramatically, and was even negative, while borders were closed during the height of the Covid pandemic. The counterpart is that it was always to be expected that migration would surge once the borders were reopened again.

But........

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