Australia's population grew by 2.5 per cent (or 659,800 people) to a total of 26-point-8 million people in the 12 months to September 2023, driven by record levels of overseas migration.
Net overseas migration grew by 60 per cent compared with the previous year, driven by a 34 per cent increase in overseas migration arrivals - mostly those on a temporary visa for work or study.
The data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (21 March) shows the trend is a correction to the impact of the COVID border closures that saw the country's population shrink for the first time in recorded history.
Net overseas migration to Australia in the 2020–21 financial year fell by 88,800, the country’s largest net outflow since World War One.
Independent economist Chris Richardson says many households are feeling the economic pressure.
"Inflation has taken off in a way that it hasn't in decades. Prices have risen a lot, but wages haven't. So when you go to the shops - everything else equal - it buys less than it used to. Interest rates have roared up, the Reserve Bank is fighting inflation through higher interest rates. And so out of the income we're getting, it doesn't matter what wages we get. It also matters what costs we get. And those costs have jumped up. The tax take as a share of your income over time - it has absolutely roared up in the last little while. And by the way, each of those create economic pain, which means unemployment has gone up. So the downturn in our standard of living has been the sharpest seen in Australia over half a century."
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the government is trying to balance a lot of factors in the upcoming budget.
"You will see a responsible budget - one that puts downward pressure on inflation, but still is able to provide support for people with cost of living pressures. And also has a big focus on future economic growth, the future foundations of growth in the country. There has been a lot of decisions that have been made over many months. But we believe this is the most responsible set of decisions to help shepherd the economy through the next 12 months."
The government wants to introduce new legislation that will set a cap on the maximum number of new international student places in the tertiary education sector.
The legislation will allow more international student placements over and above the cap, if the education providers build additional purpose-built student accommodation for both international and domestic students.
A meeting with those in the sector has pushed back the rollout date by six months, from July 1 until the beginning of next year.
International students provide a $48 billion boost to Australia's economy and employ 200,000 workers, making it the nation's fourth-largest export.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud says he wants better conditions for tradespeople to fill skills shortages - and he says the party is working on the migration policy it will take to the federal election.
"We will be providing a very comprehensive immigration plan - not only in terms of student, in terms of refugee intake... But skilled migration, the greatest gift Australia can give to any citizen around the world is a ticket to Australia. So wouldn't we bring in the skills that we need into this country. Why would we exclude them? And this government has excluded tradies, the builders, the plumbers, the plasterers, the roofers - because the unions have said no, we'll be homegrown. We want to be homegrown, but when you have got a housing crisis now. And people living in tents now. That is not much good to you in two or three or four years - when these trades come online. You have got another three or four years in a tent. What government does that to its people?"
Greens leader Adam Bandt says the government is targeting migration to draw attention away from what he sees as the real cause of the housing crisis - handouts to property investors.
"Labor again is trying to divert attention from the real causes of the housing crisis. And again they're attempting to link the two. We are seeing the strategy play out time and time again. Labor is giving billions of dollars of handouts to wealthy property investors that are denying renters the chance to build their first home. Let's tackle that in the budget and you go a long way to tackling the housing crisis. I am very concerned that the closer that we get to the election, the more we're going to see an attack from Labour and Liberals on migration in this country."
Crossbench senator David Pocock says a cap on international student number s alone won't solve the housing crisis - and there are other factors to consider.
"There are no silver bullets here. This is one thing that needs to be dealt with. We need to be looking at tax - how do we change the tax incentives for investment properties that stack interests in terms of property investors, rather than have housing as something people in our community should be able to afford. But we have to be able to talk about immigration - what do want that to look like, how many, what does that mean for things like housing, what does that mean for skills shortages. And critically for universities what does it mean for their research funding?"
Australia's permanent migration program is capped annually - with the number set at 190,000 places for 2023-2024.
Temporary visa numbers have been largely uncapped since the Howard government, leading to the numbers doubling in the past 15 years.
About 1.9 million people are temporary migrants with work rights in Australia – that's 7 per cent of the population.
