Immigration to Australia

[3] In 2019–20, immigration to Australia came to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn saw a shrinkage of the Australian population for the first time since World War I,[4][5] though in the following period 2021–22 showed a very strong recovery of migrant arrivals.

"[10] In 2023, BCG ranked Australia as the top country destination for individuals seeking to work and live a high-quality life based on global assessments.

In recent years, Australia's policy of mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals by boat has attracted controversy.

The First Fleet comprised 11 ships carrying 775 convicts and 645 officials, members of the crew, marines, and their families and children.

There were few with skills needed to start a self-sufficient settlement, such as farmers and builders, and the colony experienced hunger and hardships.

Because of opposition from the British government, an explicit racial policy was avoided in the legislation, with the control mechanism being a dictation test in a European language selected by the immigration officer.

Perhaps the most celebrated case was Egon Erwin Kisch, a left-wing Austrian journalist who could speak five languages, who was failed in a test in Scottish Gaelic and deported as illiterate.

[15] However, young women were receiving assisted passages from state governments to migrate to Australia in the early years of Federation.

There were initially no skill restrictions, although under the White Australia Policy, people from mixed-race backgrounds found it very difficult to take advantage of the scheme.

Claims have been made that Australia's migration program is in conflict with anti age-discrimination legislation and there have been calls to remove or amend the age limit of 50 for general skilled migrants.

provide a number of migration-assistance and settlement-support services: As of 2019[update], 30% of the Australian resident population, or 7,529,570 people, had been born overseas.

These included: the absolute numbers of aged residents continuing to rise despite high immigration off-setting ageing and declining birth-rates in a proportional sense; a worsening of Australia's trade balance due to more imports and higher consumption of domestic production; increased greenhouse gas emissions; overuse of agricultural soils; marine fisheries and domestic supplies of oil and gas; and a decline in urban air quality, river quality and biodiversity.

[46] Some environmental movements believe that as the driest inhabited continent, Australia cannot continue to sustain its current rate of population growth without becoming overpopulated.

[49] A number of economists, such as Macquarie Bank analyst Rory Robertson, assert that high immigration and the propensity of new arrivals to cluster in the capital cities is exacerbating the nation's housing affordability problem.

"[52] The Reserve Bank of Australia in its submission to the same Productivity Commission report stated that "rapid growth in overseas visitors such as students may have boosted demand for rental housing".

Given the significant influx of foreigners coming to work or study in Australia in recent years, it seems highly likely that short-stay visitor movements may have added to the demand for housing.

The government's Medium to Long-Term Strategic Skill List allows immigration by professionals who end up competing with graduates of Australian universities for scarce positions.

[70] To avoid this outcome the government increased immigration to fill gaps in labour markets and introduced a subsidy to encourage families to have more children.

"[72] However, according to Creedy and Alvarado (p. 99),[73] by 2031 there will be a 1.1 per cent fall in the proportion of the population aged over 65 if net migration rate is 80,000 per year.

"[75] Ross Gittins, an economics columnist at Fairfax Media, has said that the Government's focus on skilled migration has in fact reduced the average age of migrants.

"[76] Because of these statistics, Gittens claims that immigration is slowing the ageing of the Australian population and that the "net benefit to the economy is a lot more clear-cut."

Robert Birrell, director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University, has argued: "It is true that a net migration intake averaging around 180,000 per year will mean that the proportion of persons aged 65 plus to the total population will be a few percentage points lower in 2050 than it would be with a low migration intake.

"[77] In July 2005 the Productivity Commission launched a commissioned study entitled Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth,[78] and released an initial position paper on 17 January 2006[79] which states that the increase of income per capita provided by higher migration (50 percent more than the base model) by the 2024–2025 financial year would be $335 (0.6%), an amount described as "very small."

[80] Using regression analysis, Addison and Worswick found in a 2002 study that "there is no evidence that immigration has negatively impacted on the wages of young or low-skilled natives."

[81] However, in 2005 the Productivity Commission concluded that higher immigration levels would result in lower wage growth for existing Australian residents.

As well, Birrell argues that a slowdown in labour force growth would require employers to pay greater attention to training, wages and conditions of workers.

[85] Over the last decade, leaders of the major Federal political parties have demonstrated support for high level immigration (including John Howard, Peter Costello and Kim Beazley[86]).

[86] In 2019, a Lowy Institute poll found that 49% of Australians say that ‘the total number of migrants coming to Australia each year is too high’, while a minority said it is ‘too low’ (13%), representing a 10-point rise in opposition to immigration since 2014.