If politics is the art of capturing the zeitgeist, then many in Canberra over the past year have been writing into policy an emerging social perception that will have significant economic consequences: Australians are well and truly over immigration.

Indeed, a report released earlier this week found that half of Australians believe immigration is too high. It’s a big shift for a country that has always held dear to its heart the idea that multiculturalism is a national good.