Population growth about right but communities feeling pressures: Berejiklian

STATES must have a say on migration intake because they’re on the “front line” of “growing pressures on local services and infrastructure”, said Premier Gladys Berejik­lian.

A View over Bondi rooftops looking towards Bellevue Hill. Expanding populations bring community pressures, the Premier says.

STATES must have a say on migration intake levels because they’re on the “front line” and know “the reality” of the “growing pressures on local services and infrastructure”, Premier Gladys Berejik­lian last night said.

In an impassioned speech, Ms Berejiklian also said an entire meeting of federal and state leaders next year should be dedicated to the divisive issue of whether Australia should cut how many people it allows in every year from overseas.

“It is the states that are on the front line of delivering the infrastructure and services that our communities and our economies need,” Ms Berejik­lian, from a migrant family herself, said.

Ms Berejiklian said Australians need to prepare “rigorously for the decades ahead”.

The Premier said new citizens must be responsible citizens.

“I am therefore proposing that an entire meeting of the Council of Australian Governments next year should be dedicated solely to the issue of immigration and planning.

“This should not be just a once-off discussion, but revis­ited every few years.”

Ms Berejiklian said the current levels of migration were “about right”, but added: “we cannot ignore the reality that communities are feeling growing pressures.”

Her speech at a dinner held by The Sydney Institute last night, is the Premier’s first foray into the divisive debate.

It comes after ex-prime minister and after former Prime Minister Tony Abbott called on Malcolm Turnbull in February to scale back Australia’s migration intake from about 183,000 annually to 110,000.

Ms Berejiklian said we need to prepare “rigorously for the decades ahead”.

And she cautioned NSW could not underestimate “the benefits that successive waves of immigration have brought”.

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“Work ethic, skills, talent and energy from all over the world — this is a critical part of what will give NSW its edge in the future,” she said.

She also said new citizens must be responsible citizens and give back to the community.

“We need to support those willing to work hard, take risks and put NSW on the global map,” she said.

State Labor Opposition Leader Luke Foley recently backed Mr Abbott’s calls for a migration rollback.

He also called for a yearly discussion between the states and the Commonwealth.