Australia’s population grew by 1.6 per cent in the 12 months to March 2025, reaching 27.5 million, according to new figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS advised that 315,900 of the population increase was attributable to net overseas migration.
Shadow Minister for Immigration, Senator Paul Scarr, said the figures indicate that the Labor Government is still overseeing a level of net overseas migration far in excess of that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is now over three years since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Labor Government needs to explain what its long-term plan is to bring net overseas migration down to a sustainable level in line with their own medium-term forecasts.”
“Labor’s own migration strategy review, released more than two years ago, called for long term planning that supports predictable and stable population growth. It recommended settings that would allow governments to plan properly for housing, infrastructure and services. However, more than three years since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, we still have a net overseas migration outcome approximately 100,000 over the long-term average prior to the pandemic.”
“At this time, it is more important than ever that the Labor Government provide detail to the Australian people, including its long-term plan for predictable and stable population growth.”
“We are a proud migrant nation, but migration policy must be managed responsibly. That means stable settings and real investment in housing, infrastructure and services — not delay and dysfunction.”
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