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Migration levels have dipped to the lowest levels since mid-2022, with 301,000 new arrivals to Australia in the past year, according to data released the day after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson supercharged her assault against immigration and called for the end of multiculturalism.
Australian Bureau of Statistics population data released on Thursday shows net overseas migration was down 29,500 people on the previous year; however, the decreased levels are still above the pre-pandemic average of about 230,000 arrivals each year.
The overall population grew by 412,500 people, or 1.5 per cent, the latest data shows.
The Albanese government immediately seized on the figures as proof it is effectively managing migrant intake amid persistent backlash from One Nation and the Coalition.
Hanson made migration a focus of her first speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, blaming immigration policy for Australia being in a “state of crisis” and calling for a monocultural society.
“Labor has allowed this immigration catastrophe to happen in the middle of a national housing crisis,” Hanson told the Press Club in a lengthy speech which also canvassed a clamp-down on Muslim immigration and axing the government’s climate change department.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Thursday insisted net overseas migration was “coming down under Labor and Treasury is forecasting it to go even lower in the coming years”, while Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said fewer temporary visa holders and international students had arrived in Australia.
“Migration was surging when we came to office and it has now moderated substantially. It was already down 45 per cent since its peak, and is lower again today,” Chalmers said.
The ABS figures show international student net migration was down 10 per cent over the year to reach pre-COVID levels, while migration of temporary visa holders was less than half the 2023 post-COVID peak, Burke said in a statement.
KPMG senior economist Terry Rawnsley said the strength of the economies in Western Australia and Queensland meant those states had the largest increases in net migration due to a need to tap into overseas workers to fill jobs.
“The nation looks to have settled into a new normal level of net overseas migration of around 300,000 people per year, which is about 25 per cent higher than pre-COVID levels of around 250,000 per year,” Rawnsley said.
“The new baseline is being driven by Queensland and Western Australia. The Sunshine State is bringing in 75 per cent more people from overseas than before COVID, while on the west coast there has been a 250 per cent increase above pre-COVID levels.”
Rawnsley said NSW and Victoria “look to have settled back to around their pre-COVID levels of net overseas migration”.
The numbers in NSW were 90,961 and 85,044 in Victoria, up 1.2 and 1.7 per cent respectively.
“The federal budget assumes net overseas migration of 295,000 in 2025–26. At the halfway point of the financial year, arrivals total 145,000, suggesting migration is broadly on track to come close to that budget assumption,” Rawnsley said.
The bureau’s head of demography, Beidar Cho, said Australia’s population grew to 27.8 million, with 412,500 more people than in December 2024.
“This was made up by natural increase, which is the number of births minus those who died, and overseas migration,” Cho said.
Natural increase added 111,500 people, while net overseas migration added 301,000 people over the 12 months to December 2025.
Western Australia had the fastest-growing population, with an annual rise of 2.2 per cent, while Tasmania had the slowest growth over the 12-month period, with a 0.5 per cent rise in population.
According to last month’s budget papers, the government’s net overseas migration estimates for this financial year rose to 295,000 from the previous expectation of 260,000.
Migration is expected to fall in coming years, but next year’s figures remain 20,000 migrants higher than previously forecast.
Net overseas migration will reach 225,000 in 2027-28, instead of a year earlier as predicted in December’s midyear update, budget papers show.
The Coalition’s immigration spokesman, Senator Jonno Duniam, said the figures indicated that Labor’s promises to bring migration under control had failed.
“Labor keeps trying to tell Australians that the migration numbers are coming down, but the latest ABS figures again portray a very different story,” Duniam said.
“A net overseas migration figure of 301,000 is still far too high – particularly at a time when Australians are struggling to find a home, rents remain under extreme pressure and public infrastructure and services are badly stretched.
“This is not a one-off number. Net overseas migration has now remained above 300,000 for 14 straight quarters – in other words, for three-and-a-half years.”
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