Immigration

After a freeze on new arrivals during the Covid pandemic, Australia’s net overseas migration rapidly expanded to a peak of 536,000 in 2022–23 due to pent-up demand from students, backpackers, and temporary workers, as well as lower than usual departures.^* More recently, official figures show net migration fell by 100,000 last year, which puts it on a trajectory back to pre-pandemic levels.^* However, in the context of cost-of-living and housing pressures, immigration was a contested political issue in the leadup to Australia’s 2025 federal election.

More than half the population (53%) say the total number of migrants coming to Australia each year is ‘too high’, a five-point increase since last year and on par with the previous high in 2018 (54%). Less than half (45%) think immigration levels are either ‘about right’ (38%) or ‘too low’ (7%).