(AUSTRALIA) Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has intensified the national argument over mass immigration in Australia, warning that record population growth is pushing the country’s infrastructure beyond breaking point and fuelling a housing crisis that is leaving more Australians locked out of the property market.
Her comments, made as new figures point to record net overseas arrivals in 2025, place fresh pressure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, which Price says oversaw an intake of about 1.2 million people in its first term and is on track to reach nearly 2 million by the end of the current term.
Price’s core argument: infrastructure, housing and everyday pressure
Price argues that ordinary Australians are paying the price in longer commutes, rising rents, and crowded public services. She says:
“Our infrastructure can’t handle it. There’s far too much congestion pushing up the price of homes.”
She accuses Labor of running what she calls mass immigration in Australia without a matching plan for roads, rail, hospitals, schools, and basic services.
Price links the housing crisis directly to migration levels, saying the construction sector has not kept pace with the population spike:
“Labor aren’t meeting the demands for building homes in this country.”
She adds that those who already own property are seeing prices soar, while younger Australians and new families are being pushed further away from city centres or out of the market entirely.
Settlement patterns and regional incentives
Price says the problem is not simply the number of arrivals but how they are settled. She argues governments at all levels have funnelled too many newcomers into the biggest cities, adding pressure to already stretched infrastructure.
To ease that strain, she supports:
- Stronger incentives and clearer pathways to steer skilled migrants toward regional areas (for example, the Northern Territory, where she is based).
- Using regional settlement to help local economies grow without worsening big-city congestion.
Public sentiment and polling
The conservative think tank Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) reports rising public support for slowing arrivals, linking this shift to worries about housing and access to services.
Key poll figures from the IPA:
- 71% of Australians now support a temporary pause on immigration until infrastructure catches up (up from 60% in 2023).
- 74% of those aged 18 to 24 favour a pause.
Official arrivals and housing shortfall data
The IPA cites Department of Home Affairs data showing:
- 467,410 net permanent and long-term arrivals in the 12 months to August 31, 2025 — the highest figure on record.
Their estimates for housing shortfalls:
- 19,570 homes supply shortfall in 2024 alone.
- 179,287 cumulative housing gap between 2022 and 2024.
The IPA argues migration-driven population growth is a major factor making housing less affordable and “making Australians poorer”.
Snapshot table: Key figures cited
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Net permanent & long-term arrivals (12 months to 31 Aug 2025) | 467,410 |
| Housing shortfall in 2024 | 19,570 homes |
| Cumulative housing gap 2022–2024 | 179,287 homes |
| Public support for temporary pause (2025) | 71% |
| Public support for temporary pause (2023) | 60% |
| Support among 18–24 year-olds | 74% |
Economic context and expert commentary
Analysis by VisaVerge.com places Australia near the top among developed countries for population growth driven by migration, while wages lag inflation and mortgage interest rates remain high.
Economists quoted by the site note:
- New arrivals can boost long-term growth.
- Rapid population shifts can cause sharp pain if governments fail to invest early in housing, transport, and social services.
Price highlights visible strains in suburbs where families struggle to find rentals, parents queue for school places, and hospital emergency departments run over capacity:
“When there’s more people in your country, there is more congestion, more pressure on infrastructure, hospitals, schooling.”
She is calling on Canberra to slow the intake to allow services to recover.
Political strategy and proposed measures
Price plans to use her position on the Liberal backbench to push for:
- Lower permanent and temporary intake levels.
- Emphasis on net migration (arrivals minus departures) as the key metric of what she calls mass migration.
- Tighter links between intake numbers and evidence that infrastructure, especially housing, can cope.
- Stronger measures to encourage regional settlement of skilled migrants.
Beyond intake numbers, she has entered a culture debate by stressing that migrants should be ready to “adopt Australian values”, and has argued for:
- Stronger vetting at the visa stage to screen applicants she believes may not share “our democratic values and respect for the rule of law.”
She has not set out detailed policy proposals, but her comments reflect long-standing conservative calls for tougher character tests and broader powers to cancel visas.
Existing visa rules and department response
Under current rules, the Department of Home Affairs already applies character checks to most visa applicants, including:
- Police clearances
- Security assessments
- Identity verification
The department states that its migration program, outlined on its official planning page, aims to balance economic growth, social cohesion and infrastructure capacity through annual caps and skilled occupation lists. The link provided by the department is: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/migration-program-planning
Internal party reaction and prior controversy
Price’s push to link visas more directly to cultural fit and regional settlement has drawn both support and criticism within the Liberal Party:
- Some colleagues see an opportunity to sharpen the opposition’s message on cost-of-living pressures, linking the housing crisis to Labor’s migration settings.
- Others worry her rhetoric could inflame race tensions and alienate migrant communities that are electorally important in key suburban seats.
Earlier this year, tensions surfaced when Price publicly claimed, without evidence, that the Labor government was favouring immigrants from India for electoral reasons. Responses included:
- Immigration lawyers and policy experts noting Australian law does not allow visa grants based on likely voting behaviour.
- Senior Liberals distancing themselves from the remarks.
- Price later retracted the claim, acknowledging it was incorrect under Australian immigration law, and party leaders issued public apologies to calm relations with Indian-Australian groups.
Community impacts and voter concerns
For many voters, the debate is less about migrants’ origins and more about whether there is enough housing and infrastructure to go around.
Community groups in outer suburban growth corridors report rising frustration as new estates fill before promised rail links, bus lines, schools and clinics appear. Residents often face long drives to work and services.
Political implications and next steps
With polls shifting and infrastructure stretched, both major parties face mounting pressure to explain:
- How future migration will fit within Australia’s housing and public services systems and budgets.
- What specific measures will ensure housing, transport, and social services keep pace with population changes.
Price intends to continue pushing the debate from the Liberal backbench, seeking policy changes that would lower intake and more tightly tie migration settings to demonstrable infrastructure capacity.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price warned that record net arrivals — 467,410 in the 12 months to August 2025 — are overwhelming Australia’s housing, transport and public services. The IPA reports 71% of Australians favor a temporary pause on arrivals. Price urges lower intake levels, stronger regional settlement incentives, and tighter links between migration numbers and demonstrable infrastructure capacity to ease congestion, rising rents, and stretched hospitals and schools.
