Migrants to be diverted from Sydney to ease house prices
THE Turnbull plan comes as NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts became the latest to express concern over our state’s booming population, which is expected to hit 9.9m in the next decade.
NSW
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MIGRANTS will be redirected out of Sydney and into regional areas under a Turnbull government plan to help ease the capital’s house price crisis.
The move comes as the NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts expressed concern over the impact of Sydney’s booming population on home prices, with the state’s number of residents expected to hit 9.9 million within twenty years — requiring 660,000 new homes.
Two-thirds of the population boom will be fuelled by overseas and interstate migration.
Federal Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said it was a “key priority” for the Turnbull government to find ways to encourage migrants to settle outside of Sydney, where house prices have risen by 16 per cent over the past year.
“While the government recognises that Sydney will still be an attractive destination for migration, we are looking to work with state governments and regional governments to partner with them to see what could attract migrants to other regional centres,’’ Mr Hawke said.
“That means employment prospects and the right infrastructure.”
Mr Hawke identified regions including the Central Coast and Goulburn as areas which could be transformed to become more attractive to migrants.
The migration program is reviewed every year as part of the budget process but Mr Hawke ruled out reining in the 190,000 annual immigration intake, which has come down from 300,000 under Labor.
However, any increase in migration levels would add too much pressure on NSW infrastructure and housing supply, he said.
OPINION : Forget simple solutions: we need to face some hard housing facts
Government projections reveal the NSW population will skyrocket by more than 100,000 people annually for the next 20 years.
Sydney alone will need 664,000 new homes over the next 20 years to keep pace with demand for housing, NSW government figures reveal.
However, he said discussions needed to take place about redistribution of where migrants were settling.
“This is an important conversation and we do want to look at why people don’t want to move to regional centres which have the right balance of jobs and I think if you speak to our Cities Minister Angus Taylor he’ll tell you that some of the City Deals we are bringing on, part of it is how to attract migrants to other economic (centres),” he said.
“There is no money federally and certainly not from the states to add to infrastructure or the provision of housing, so you can’t therefore increase your migration,” he said.
NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said NSW needed to increase housing supply to help tackle the longstanding issue of affordability. “NSW needs to continue to deliver housing and infrastructure for a projected population of 9.9 million in the next decade,” he said.
Their figures show 60 per cent of the population growth is from natural increase while 40 per cent is from net migration from other states and overseas. “Perhaps the Commonwealth can also look at foreign investment rules to protect first home buyers,” Mr Roberts said.
The figures show that under Labor’s last five years in power, until 2011, new home completions averaged 14,000 a year while the population rose by almost 70,000 a year.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH READERS HAVE THEIR SAY:
“Maybe these people should be relocated places like Bourke and Wee Waa little towns that need a population boost, but they won’t ...” C
“If migrants are not “building” our nation any more, and it’s now in damage-control mode to level out overpopulation and overpriced housing, why is the immigration tap still on full throttle? Surely it’s time for zero net immigration, equal to emigration?” Vivienne
“What is with the obsession of high immigration levels in this country? Sydney is over crowded now, house prices are way out of reach for young Australians, this can’t be changed, the horse has bolted. Slow down on the intake and be selective about the small numbers we choose to bring in.” Heidi
“On average every migrant coming in creates 1.3 jobs so if their are no jobs for locals you should be begging for more migrants. They also come in as adults and often return home in retirement saving the government and us as tax payers a fortune.” Josh
“Everything old is new again. This was a Hawke/Keating policy.” Julia
“As someone who lives in Port Macquarie, I believe the government’s plan to send migrants to regional centres has not been thought out. From my local experience, we do not have the resources to deal with an influx of migrants. We do not have any decent public transport, overstretched health services, limited public service outlets, minimal jobs, no translation services and a very poor TAFE courses. What are these migrants going to do when they arrive in Port Macquarie or other regional centres — We don’t have enough jobs for our own unemployed!” Andy
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