Migration is neither bad nor good but size matters

September 2, 2026

My thanks to Alan Gamlen for a balanced article on migration. I welcomed his acknowledgement that: “Emigration can deprive poorer countries of skilled doctors, nurses, engineers and other professionals. Rural areas may lose population. Families can spend years separated.” These downsides are often forgotten by high-migration advocates, as indeed are the up-sides by the likes of One Nation.

Gamlen says good migration is all about management. Yes, but that has to include size. Migration has to be set within population policy, so we do not exceed the carrying capacity of this continent. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest we have done so already, given recent State of Environment reports, but the worry is climate change. It could reduce our carrying capacity significantly. Indeed, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, Michael Mann, has said: “It is conceivable that much of Australia simply becomes too hot and dry for human habitation.”

We can only feed 30 million people in a bad year and it looks like we could be heading for a bad spring and summer with a ‘super’ El Nino. It may be the wake-up call we need to rapidly stabilise our population.