John Masanauskas From: Herald Sun July 21, 2010
OVERSEAS migration to Victoria is slowing, but the state is still absorbing more than 360 permanent arrivals a week.
And Asians continue to dominate the migration program, led by people born in China, India and Sri Lanka, says a Federal Government report released on Tuesday.
It comes as Prime Minister Julia Gillard questioned whether major cities like Melbourne and Sydney could keep absorbing hundreds of thousands of people without regard for quality of life issues.
“My proposition is that growth should improve the quality of our lives, not make life harder,” she said while campaigning in Sydney.
“Let’s slow down, let’s take a breath and let’s get this right.”
Labor and the Coalition have raised concerns about rampant population growth, but both are yet to announce specific policies to slash migration, which is the most effective way to curb growth.
Net overseas migration to Australia hit a record last year, but the rate is slowing.
There were almost 19,000 settler arrivals in Victoria in the second half of last year, down about 1000 on the previous year, the latest Immigration Update report said.
About 60 per cent of the intake was Asian-born, with Chinese the No.1 group (3178 arrivals), followed by Indians (2753).
The number of New Zealanders fell by 700 to 1400 while the UK-born number fell 200 to 1450.
More than 90 per cent of Victorian immigrants settle in Melbourne. The State Government’s Victoria in Future 2008 report said that given a net national migrant intake of 180,000 a year, Melbourne’s population will reach five million by 2026.
The City of Casey, which includes suburbs like Narre Warren, Cranbourne and Berwick, will add more than 140,000 people to reach 370,000.
A report due out next month from the pro-business Committee for Melbourne will argue that the city’s population could easily double over the next 50 years provided there was adequate planning.
“The greatest fear of the Committee for Melbourne is if the ‘no growth’ people win the public debate,” the report will say.
But federal Labor MP and low migration advocate Kelvin Thomson said there was no link between population growth and economic prosperity.
“In fact, many of the countries which are the most prosperous on Earth are those which have a population of less than 10 million and have stable populations,” he said.
