Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Many young Australians have lost hope of owning a home. And, if they can't build a home, it's very hard to start a family. That might, in part, explain the collapse of our fertility rate to 1.5 births per woman, the lowest in history. Yet, Australia is growing rapidly, but it's not because we're having more children. So what's driving our growth? The answer is net overseas migration, or the NOM. Historically, the 20-year average for the NOM from the year 2000 to 2019 was about 190,000 people per year. Yet, post-COVID, net overseas migration has exploded. In 2023-24, the NOM was 446,000 people, the largest group being temporary students, with 207,000 arrivals. In the last two years, we've added nearly a million extra people to our population.

The Australian people are feeling the impact of Labor's immigration policy. Our infrastructure is under pressure, essential services from schools and hospitals are stretched thin and Australians are locked out of the housing market. Many are house poor, spending most of their income on rent or mortgages. Labor talk about a housing supply crisis, but this is a housing demand crisis driven by unsustainable immigration. It's that simple. We must act. Net overseas migration must come down. Our first allegiance is to all Australian citizens and making sure they have a roof over their heads.

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