Mass Immigration Does Not Improve Living Standards, But Rather, Crashes Them, By James Reed and Paul Walker

On May 2, 2025, Leith van Onselen of Microbusiness.com.au posed a provocative question, behind a paywall: Does immigration improve living standards?

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/05/does-immigration-improve-living-standards/

For many Australians, the answer is a resounding no. Mass immigration, as it stands today, is not a boon but a burden, threatening to bury our nation under unsustainable population growth, strained infrastructure, and cultural dilution. While a controlled influx of skilled workers might offer benefits, the current wave—often labelled as Third-World replacement—undermines our sovereignty, economy, and way of life. It's time for a legally partisan approach: strict immigration laws to protect Australia's future.

Australia's immigration intake has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2024-25 alone, net overseas migration hit 518,000, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, pushing the population past 27 million. This isn't a gradual increase—it's a flood. Our cities, already grappling with housing crises, can't cope. Sydney and Melbourne saw median house prices soar to $1.5 million and $1.2 million respectively (Domain, April 2025), driven by demand outpacing supply. Rents have jumped 20% in two years, with vacancy rates below 1%, leaving young Australians priced out and families in financial distress.

Infrastructure is buckling. Roads like the M1 in Sydney are gridlocked daily, with traffic delays costing the economy $20 billion annually (BITRE, 2025). Public hospitals, already overstretched, saw a 15% increase in emergency wait times in 2024, per the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Schools are overcrowded, with class sizes averaging 28 students—up from 24 a decade ago (ACARA, 2025). This isn't progress; it's a nation drowning under its own weight, and mass immigration is the tide pulling us under.

The composition of this immigration wave raises red flags. Over 60% of recent arrivals come from developing nations—India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and sub-Saharan Africa—many lacking the skills or qualifications to integrate seamlessly (Department of Home Affairs, 2025). Unlike the post-war European migrants who built our manufacturing base, today's influx includes low-skilled workers and refugees, often reliant on welfare. In 2024, new migrants claimed $4.2 billion in social services, up 30% from 2020 (Productivity Commission, 2025), straining a system already stretched thin.

This isn't diversity; it's replacement. Neighbourhoods in western Sydney and Melbourne's outer suburbs now have enclaves where English is a second language, with 25% of residents born overseas (ABS, 2025). Cultural cohesion frays as traditional Australian values—mateship, a fair go—are eroded by imported customs incompatible with our legal and social norms. Crime rates, particularly in these areas, have risen 12% since 2020, with youth gangs linked to new arrivals (Australian Federal Police, 2025). Economic contributions are minimal—unemployment among recent migrants sits at 15%, double the national average—while the tax base groans under the load.

To be fair, immigration isn't inherently bad. A controlled, merit-based system bringing in real skills could benefit Australia. Engineers from Germany, IT specialists from Japan, or nurses from Canada—people who can fill gaps in our aging workforce and pay their way—could bolster our economy. In 2024, skilled visa holders contributed $8 billion in taxes while taking up only 5% of welfare (DHA, 2025). This is the model we need: targeted, legal, and aligned with national interest. The 190 Skilled Nominated Visa, which caps intake at 30,000 annually, shows promise when enforced strictly.

But that's a far cry from what we have. The current humanitarian and family reunion programs, accounting for 40% of intake, prioritise sentiment over strategy, flooding us with unvetted, low-skill entrants. Net migration should be slashed to 70,000-100,000 annually—mirroring the 1990s levels when living standards rose—and tied to economic need, not global charity.

The solution demands a legally partisan stance: rewrite immigration laws to prioritise Australia first. Here's the plan:

1.Cap and Quota: Legislate a hard cap of 100,000 net migrants yearly, with 90% allocated to skilled workers under a points-based system favouring education, language proficiency, and job offers. Scrap the humanitarian intake above 5,000, then drop it to near zero.

2.Border Security: Reinstate the Pacific Solution with no exceptions—turn back boats, process claims offshore, and deport overstays. In 2024, 3,500 illegal arrivals were detected (Border Force, 2025); zero tolerance is non-negotiable.

3.Cultural Vetting: Require all applicants to pass a values test, affirming commitment to Australian law, democracy, and gender equality. Reject those from nations with high radicalisation risks (ASIO, 2025).

4.Economic Contribution: Mandate a two-year tax contribution period before welfare eligibility, ensuring migrants support, not drain, the system. Extend this to ten years for family reunion cases.

This isn't xenophobia; it's self-preservation. Canada's points-based system, admitting 300,000 annually with 60% skilled, maintains a 6% unemployment rate and 2% GDP growth (StatsCan, 2025). Australia can learn from this, rejecting the open-door chaos of Europe, where Germany's 1.5 million migrant influx since 2015 drove crime up 10% and welfare costs to €20 billion (Destatis, 2025).

The political elite—Labor and the Coalition alike—push the narrative that immigration drives growth. Treasury claims a 0.5% GDP boost from migration (2025 Budget Papers), but this ignores per capita decline: GDP per person fell 1.2% since 2019 (RBA, 2025). Big business loves cheap labour—construction firms hired 50,000 migrant workers in 2024 at half local wages (ABS)—but this exploits Australians, not uplifts them. The media, like the ABC, touts multiculturalism, yet 65% of voters want lower immigration (Lowy Institute, 2025). The disconnect is stark, and it's burying us.

Mass immigration, as practiced today, is burying Australia under housing shortages, infrastructure collapse, and cultural strain. It's not just about race—it's also about numbers and capability. Skilled, vetted immigrants can enrich us, but the Third-World replacement wave we endure now threatens our identity and prosperity. A legally partisan overhaul—capping intake, securing borders, and prioritising economic contributors—is the only path forward. Without it, we risk becoming a nation overrun, not renewed. The time to act is now, before the weight of this misguided policy sinks us entirely.