Clare O’Neil said the latest migration changes have already led to substantial declines in migration levels.
Australia witnessed a record-high number of overseas visitor arrivals and resident returns in February.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed that short-term visitor overseas arrivals grew 42.8 percent year over year to 857,950 while long-term arrivals climbed 11.2 percent to 123,190 during the second month of the year.
The Institute of Public Affairs noted that this is the first time net monthly permanent and long-term arrivals have exceeded 100,000, calling for the government to implement a sustainable migration strategy instead.
“The data proves that the federal government’s unplanned mass migration program is unsustainable. It actively undermines Australians who are struggling to find a home as increasing demand and a lack of supply is pricing them out of the market,” Institute of Public Affairs Deputy Executive Director Daniel Wild said.
“Migration has played a critical role in our history, and will continue to do so, but it must be planned for, and the federal government must deliver sustainable economic growth through increased productivity, not by merely bringing in record numbers of arrivals we cannot accommodate.”
On the other hand, the Urban Development Institute of Australia (EDIA) said that the government should focus on migrants with housing skills to clear the country’s 70 percent job vacancies in the housing sector.
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“The stark reality is that if we were to stop skilled migration now, at a time when we are 37 percent down on annual housing commencements, it would severely restrict the ability to increase the capacity needed to reach the already lofty housing targets,” UDIA National President Col Dutton said.
The Albanese government previously announced it would overhaul its migration system.
The changes include fast-tracking the migration of highly skilled workers and imposing stricter English language testing and financial requirements on student visa applicants. Through these, the government believes it will help fill in the demand for highly skilled labourers and prevent the use of student visas as a backdoor to gain working rights.
In March, Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil said that migration levels had dropped due to the changes.
“Since September, the government’s actions have led to substantial declines in migration levels, with recent international student visa grants down by 35 percent on the previous year,” the minister said.
The Migration Numbers
ABS data also showed that short-term Australian resident returns rose 21.3 percent to 775,630 while long-term Australian resident returns jumped 10.2 percent to 13,490. Meanwhile, permanent arrivals surged 34.7 percent to 16,400.
Overall, arrivals soared 29.9 percent to 1.8 million.
Despite the increase from last year, the ABS noted that the number of February 2024 arrivals was 7.5 percent lower than the pre-COVID level in February 2019.
China was the largest source country of arrivals, with 149,770 trips and comprising 18 percent of all visitor arrivals. It was followed by New Zealand with 105,970 trips and the U.S. with 82,790 trips.
New South Wales witnessed the highest number of arrivals across all states, with 352,320 total trips recorded. Victoria’s arrivals totaled 238,270 while Queensland had 139,620 arrivals.
The Northern Territory saw the lowest number of arrivals at 3,380.
