Overseas migration accounts for about two-thirds of Melbourne’s massive population growth: report

MELBOURNE is still the fastest growing city in Australia, with population numbers swelling close to the 5 million mark as nearly two-thirds of last year’s 125,400 new arrivals arrived from overseas.

DEBATE over immigration is set to heat up, with new figures showing Melbourne’s population is pushing the five million mark.

Melbourne gained 125,400 people last year, of which 80,000 arrived from overseas.

The City of Casey on the city’s southeast fringe had the greatest growth of any Victorian municipality to reach 327,380 people — a population bigger than Wollongong’s.

In the west, the City of Wyndham’s population will soon surpass that of City of Greater Geelong’s, according to a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

VICTORIA GROWING BY 2800 PEOPLE A WEEK

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Melbourne’s population is booming. Picture: Hamish Blair

Immigration has been a hot topic nationally, with rising anxiety among many Australians over clogged cities and rapid demographic change.

The federal Department of Home Affairs says tighter vetting could result in the 2017-18 migrant intake being up to 30,000 places fewer than the 190,000 originally planned.

But MPs including former prime minister Tony Abbott want the annual number slashed further, while a Newspoll this week revealed that 56 per cent of Australian voters think current levels of immigration are too high.

Immigration accounted for two-thirds of Melbourne’s 2.7 per cent growth rate in 2016-17.

The city had 4.9 million residents as of June 2017, only about 200,000 people short of Sydney’s population, said the report Regional Population Growth Australia 2016-17.

Most growth is occurring on city fringes.

Biggest growing suburbs were Cranbourne East (up 7338 to 34,164); Melbourne (up 4631 to 46,104); Tarneit (up 3270 to 39,802); Truganina (up 2975 to 27,952); and Mernda (up 2440 to 19,708).

The City of Casey gained 13,859 people, followed by Wyndham (13,814), Melbourne (11,953), Whittlesea (8557) and Hume (8098).

State Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said that with Melbourne comprising almost 80 per cent of Victoria’s population, the Coalition’s policy of decentralisation was vital.

“The Andrews Government has no answer to spiralling population growth except to cram more people into the suburbs than ever before,” he said.

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NEW TWIST TO AUSTRALIA’S POPULATION EXPLOSION

Planning Minister Richard Wynne accused the previous Liberal government of not building anything, but now wanting to “shunt families out to the regions while cutting schools and hospitals”.

“We’re not just talking about population growth, we’re building for it,” he said.

The Australian Population Research Institute’s Dr Bob Birrell said the rapid growth in numbers was “prompting a wake-up call for residents”.

“The impact of all these extra people, mainly migrants, is prompting a wake-up call for residents,” he said.

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