‘Cut migration’: Premier’s stunning call against Albanese

Treasurer Cameron Dick has backed the Queensland Premier’s call for a cut to migration levels as the state struggles with housing.

Premier Steven Miles has demanded the federal Labor government cut immigration levels while the state struggles with explosive population growth and a critical shortage of housing.

In unprecedented comments from a Labor premier, Mr Miles has urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to slash migration levels to a more manageable rate.

He noted Queensland’s population growth of 2.7 per cent in the year to September was the highest in more than 15 years and said housing struggles would “continue to be exacerbated” without action.

Premier Steven Miles has thrown down the gauntlet to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“If migration continues at current levels we’ll need tens of thousands more homes every year than industry can build,” Mr Miles said.

“That’s a big part of why prices and rents have risen so rapidly.

“The Federal Government needs to assist us to ensure infrastructure keeps pace with population growth.

“We urge them to consider moderating migration levels to assist with population growth.”

Queensland’s Deputy Premier Cameron Dick backed the call, saying the state faced a significant housing challenge.

“It’s appropriate for the Federal Government to moderate our migration growth. We support that, we just want them to get on with it,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli slammed the government as “cheerleaders” for immigration. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen / Courier Mail

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli argued the state government had been “welcoming everybody in without planning properly for it” for the past decade.

“After being cheerleaders for migration they’re now proving they just haven’t kept a handle on managing the growth,” he said.

“What we’re seeing today is a government that will do and say anything in the shadows of an election after being cheerleaders for migration for a decade and just not planning for it.”

Mr Crisafulli argued Mr Miles was attempting to convince Queenslanders “somehow they aren’t to blame” for congested roads and struggling hospitals.

“They knew migration was occurring, they were standing up and gleefully being cheerleaders for it.”

The premier’s comments mark a significant departure from his predecessor Annastacia Palaszczuk, who repeatedly cited the number of people moving to Queensland as evidence her Covid-19 recovery policies were working.

Mr Miles, from Labor’s Left faction, said Queensland’s population would reach 7.4 million within a decade – 1.8 million more than today – if the growth was not moderated.

Some 143,600 people moved to Queensland in the year to September 2023, significantly higher than the 32,593 in the same period in 2019.

“Queensland is proud of our multicultural community, and we want to see people continue to move here,” he said.

“We just need it to be at a manageable level.

“We will continue to require skilled migration.”

The federal government has agreed to the state government’s request to prioritise construction workers for visas, but Mr Miles argues a lack of broad action on international migration would heap pressure on the “significant issues facing our housing market”.

Nationally, net overseas migration has soared from 106,835 people in the March 2022 quarter to 145,244 in the September 2023 quarter.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil in March said the government’s actions since September have led to “substantial declines in migration levels” and “fix the broken system we inherited”.

Mr Miles’s comments mirror those of Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, who last month called for immigration to be slowed.

“By any reasonable measure, 100,000 extra people in one month is simply too many, too soon,” Mr Schrinner said.

“It’s time for the federal government to regain control of our immigration system and ensure local communities are adequately funded to catch their breath and catch-up to the demand.”