Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith says a record influx of new immigrants is a “disaster for families” and for young people wanting to own their own home.
The electronics chain’s founder, who turns 80 next week, wants net immigration into Australia reduced to 75,000 a year to ease Australia’s rental and affordability crisis.
This would return immigration levels to 1997 levels, before overseas inflows doubled within a decade, only to double again after the pandemic.
“Every Australian family has a population plan to have the number of children they can give a good life to, but at the rate we are going it means the average Australian family will have fewer,” Smith told the paper. Daily telegram.
Australia’s population is expected to double in the next fifty years, with major business interests calling for high immigration to increase the labor supply.
Mr Smith said “billionaire political donors” only promoted high population growth to expand their wealth.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday shows Australia welcomed 125,410 permanent and long-term arrivals in January, the highest January number on record.
Including departures, the net growth in permanent and long-term arrivals in January was 55,330, surpassing the previous highest inflow in January 2009 by 40 percent.
Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith (pictured) has said the influx of new immigrants to the country is a ‘disaster’ for families, as he offers his own bold solution
Mr Smith believes immigration numbers should be reduced to just 75,000 a year to ease pressure on house prices, rents, roads and hospitals (pictured, Sydney commuters)
Treasury economists expect Australia’s overseas inflows, including skilled migrants and international students, to slow to 375,000 in 2023-2024.
This would be lower than the record 518,000 in 2022-2023 and lower than the annual increase of 481,620 in January.
But this would still be almost double the pre-pandemic level of 194,400 in 2019-20, before Australia went into lockdown from March 2020 to December 2021.
Official data shows the majority of new arrivals are settling in NSW and then Victoria, leading to increased traffic congestion in Australia’s two largest cities.
Most migrants start out as renters, leading to increased competition for accommodation in Sydney and Melbourne.
The high population growth is also causing problems in other states, with Brisbane being the recipient of high interstate migration as south-east Queensland attracts residents from NSW and Victoria in search of more affordable housing and warmer weather.
Mr Smith (pictured) said ‘billionaire political donors’ were only promoting high population growth to expand their personal wealth
Daniel Wild, the deputy director of the Institute of Public Affairs think tank, agreed that high immigration was to blame for Australia’s housing crisis (Sydney shoppers)
Daniel Wild, deputy director of the Institute of Public Affairs think tank, said high immigration was to blame for Australia’s housing crisis.
“It is clear that the federal government’s migration program is unplanned, out of control and out of step with community expectations,” he said.
“Furthermore, it has failed to address Australia’s labor shortage crisis, the very thing the federal government is using to justify such rapid increases in intake.
“It’s clear that this lazy approach to solving the labor shortage isn’t working and more attention needs to be paid to getting Australian retirees, veterans and students into work.”