Immigration: Intake not to blame, Government’s lack of preparation is, economist claims

High immigration rates are not to blame for major cities’ struggle to deal with rapid population growth, it’s governments’ inability to provide that’s the problem, according to the Chief Economist of the Australia Institute.

It comes as Treasury releases new figures claiming high immigration is an economic benefit.

Dr Richard Dennis told Tony Jones immigration is only too high if we can’t handle the amount of people being invited in.

“If you were going to invite 100 people to a party, you’d probably put the tables and chairs out before they arrive,” Dr Dennis said.

“We’ve been bringing in 200,000 people a year for over a decade and we haven’t built the roads, we haven’t built the rail, the hospitals, schools.

“That’s not the fault of the immigrants, it’s the fault of the state and federal governments who love to invite new taxpayers in but refuse to create services.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview 

Former Planning Minister now Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said he planned to deal with high immigration not by curbing our intake, but by directing immigrants outside of Melbourne.

“We can’t keep growing the population in the same way we have done in the past 30 years,” Mr Guy said.

“I think the answer is where we’re growing not how we’re growing.”

Click PLAY below for the full interview