Sawsan Madina nearly said it all

May 14, 2025

As a member of the Greens, I wholeheartedly support Sawsan Madina’s article in which she grieves over their losses in the House but applauds their excellent policies, not least on the environment and in trying to end inequality.

Yes, may the Greens come back stronger next election and, in the meantime, hold the Labor Government to account in the Senate in which they will alone hold the balance of power.

If there is one criticism to be made of them, however, it is their blinkered approach to mass immigration. They failed to acknowledge that the blowout (over half a million in 2023) in net overseas migration in recent years led to such an increased demand for housing that supply could not keep up. This exacerbated the housing crisis with a whole generation of Australians either unable to get into the market or faced with unaffordable rents.

By all means talk of supply and protecting renters, but our immigration levels should be no higher than the housing that can be provided. The Coalition, with its dearth of policies and most of them awful, got one thing right: cutting immigration by 100,000. It may have allowed supply to catch up with accumulated demand.