Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner wants ‘breathing room’ from migration

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor warned his city was sinking into a housing and infrastructure ‘hole’ ahead of the 2032 Olympics as he backed calls for a drastic cut in Australia’s migration intake.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. Picture: Liam Kidston

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor warned his city was sinking into a housing and infrastructure “hole” ahead of the 2032 Olympics because of ­surging population growth, as he backed calls for a drastic cut in Australia’s migration intake.

Liberal National Party mayor Adrian Schrinner – whose local government is the biggest in Australia with 1.32m residents – said Brisbane was in the grips of a housing crisis, with growing pressure on crucial infrastructure including roads and hospitals.

“We’re already struggling at current levels of population and if more people keep coming, we’ll get further and further behind,” he said.

“We have found ourselves as a community in these two holes, a housing hole and an infrastructure hole, and what do you do when you find yourself in a hole? You stop digging.

“So some breathing space would be very welcome so we can catch up with demand.”

After a record net overseas ­migration intake of 528,000 in 2022-23, the Albanese government wants to halve that figure to 260,000 next financial year. Labor will reduce the permanent migration intake from 190,000 to 185,000 in 2024-25; the Coalition says it should be set at 140,000 for two years before increasing to 160,000.

Ipswich mayor Teresa Harding, whose city is one of the fastest growing local government areas in Australia, refused to be drawn on whether she believed the ­migration rate should be cut.

“It’s a complex matter but we are having a lot of growth here in southeast Queensland, we are having a lot of growth in Ipswich, so I think it’s good for all three levels of government to work together on multiple things,” she said.

“We’ve got a very strong multicultural community in Ipswich and will continue to work with all levels of government.”

Mr Schrinner and Ms Harding were part of a contingent of southeast Queensland mayors who visited state parliament on Wednesday to advocate for more help to manage “crippling growth”.

Queensland’s population grew by 2.7 per cent, including 87,954 new residents from overseas and 32,625 from interstate, in the year to September.

Labor Premier Steven Miles, who backs calls for lower migra­tion, has said the population surge is “directly contributing” to congestion on roads.

Citing data from the Transport and Main Roads department, Mr Miles said there were now 229,000 more “trips” on roads and public transport since 2019.

“As a commuter myself, I know the traffic’s been getting worse, congestion has been getting worse,” he said.

“And that’s one of the reasons why we’re urging the Australian government to give us some time for the infrastructure to catch up.

Mr Miles said he had not “put a number” on what migration should be capped at.

“We’re simply saying that the current rate is too high … and I welcomed the comments by Jim Chalmers in his budget speech that it was their intention to reduce the migrant intake.

“We know our construction industry, for example, has a yearly shortfall of 27,000 houses. Each year we grow at the current rate, we will have 27,000 too few houses for the number of households.”

Dr Chalmers has said cutting migration would help Australia’s housing crisis only “at the margins at best”, and the Coalition’s smaller targets would cost the economy billions of dollars and damage the country’s skills base.