Mackay mayor Greg Williamson says Queensland needs growth out of the southeast

A regional mayor has hit back at premier Stephen Miles’ idea to cut immigration claiming it makes sense for Brisbane but not the regions. What do you think? Take the poll.

Then-deputy premier Steven Miles, Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert, Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson, and Mackay Sugar CEO Jannik Olejas at Racecourse Mill in August 2023. Picture: Contributed

As immigration becomes an election fighting stick between Labor and the Coalition, Steven Miles’ call to cut numbers to help Queensland has been knocked back by a regional mayor.

Greg Williamson was returned as mayor for his fourth term this year, and said we need workers to solve the housing crisis, and grow the economy outside the southeast.

If you’re a mayor in a regional Queensland city, you’re faced with bad choices as services become more expensive to deliver: raise rates, or deliver less, he explained.

So what’s the other option? Growing the overall ratepayer base by growing the population in your region, but to do that you need more housing, already stretched to the absolute limit.

There just aren’t enough houses available, tradespeople to build them, or finance models to fund them.

And since 2020, that’s been playing out in Mackay, with rental numbers falling from roughly 13,000 dwellings to under 10,000, Mr Williamson said.

Anthony Albanese and Senator Nita Green make a brief stop in Mackay to launch the River Revitalisation Project with Mayor Greg Williamson. Picture:Michaela Harlow

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has made a cut to Australia’s immigration intake a key part of the Coalition’s policy platform, arguing it’s the only stop-gap solution while housing numbers are so dire.

But in regional cities, small businesses need new employees to grow, and that often means encouraging people to move in from elsewhere. It’s trickier when they have nowhere to live.

That also includes tradespeople and home builders, which places like Mackay will need if it will ever catch up with the housing supply shortfall.

“It doesn’t make sense to me to cut our immigration numbers simply because Brisbane is full,” Mr Williamson said.

“If we can’t attract Australian tradespeople to communities like Mackay to build our houses, then it’s crazy to say immigration is the problem,” Mr Williamson said.

Fixing the broken housing market isn’t as simple as slowing down immigration either, he said, there are structural problems that immigration plays no role in.

Banks want fixed-price contracts when home construction is involved, but as the cost of materials blows up, those contracts become impossible for the builders to honour without operating at a loss.

Construction companies are collapsing all across Australia for this very reason.

Calling for the federal government to intervene, Mr Williamson said there’s much more that can be done that isn’t cutting immigration.

“It’s not just money, it’s fixing supply chains, incentivising tradespeople to move out of the south east of Australia.”

Originally published as Mackay mayor Greg Williamson says Queensland needs growth out of the southeast