Protesters during the March for Australia rally against government migration policy in Sydney, Australia on Aug. 31, 2025. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Australia’s migration debate has sharpened into a question of trade-offs: does a bigger population mean a stronger economy, or simply higher rents and stretched services?
Graham Young, of the Australian Institute for Progress, argues the current policy inflates GDP but does little for individual prosperity.
“That is because it increases the total size of the economy by increasing the population, not increasing individual wealth,” he told The Epoch Times.
Economist Saul Eslake points to Productivity Commission studies showing migration has a modestly positive effect on per capita GDP.
“The net impact of migration on per capita GDP has been positive, but various reforms could make that positive impact larger,” he told The Epoch Times.
Migrants and Their Impact on Housing, Infrastructure
The most hotly debated impact of migration is its pressure on housing supply.
Young warns that migration-driven population growth diverts investment from areas that could improve the economy, towards building more homes and infrastructure.
“The government has a duty to be fair to those who are already here. They should have regard to the ability of the economy to provide a good standard of living to everyone,” he said.
Governments at all levels have rolled out measures to contend with booming housing demand, including first-home buyer incentives, help with home deposits, building more social housing, training more apprentices, and in the case of New South Wales, overhauling its entire town planning system.
In turn, Eslake says there’s more to housing demand than migration, saying that during the pandemic years between June 2020 and September 2021—when migration rates were at net negative levels—housing prices still surged nearly 15 percent in a year.
“Whatever impact stopping immigration may have had was more than offset by sharply lower interest rates and by other things governments did to stop house prices falling,” he said.
Eslake also echoed Young’s comments on infrastructure.
“Migrants obviously and unavoidably do add to the demand for housing, for a range of public services, and for places on public transport and roads (just like native-born Australians do),” he said.
