The economic explainer for people who ask (every week) why migration exists amid a housing shortage. TL;DR 100,000 migrants are worth $7.1bn in new tax receipts and $24bn in GDP growth.. - **First of all, the fed government controls migration**.


Immigration is a hedge against recession, a hedge against an aging population, and a hedge against a declining tax base in the face of growing expenditures on aged care, medicare and, more recently, NDIS. It's a near-constant number to reflect those three economic realities. Aging pop. Declining Tax base. Increased Expenditure. And a hedge against recession.


Yeah, but how?


If you look at each migrant as $60,000 (median migrant salary) with a 4x economic multiplier (money churns through the Australian economy 4x). They're worth $240k to the economy each. The ABS says Australia has a 29.6% taxation percentage on GDP, so each migrant is worth about ($240k \* .296) $71,000 in tax to spend on services. So 100,000 migrants are worth $7.1bn in new tax receipts and $24bn in GDP growth.

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**However, state governments control housing.**


s51 Australian Consitution does not give powers to the Federal government to legislate over housing. So it falls on the states. It has been that way since the dawn of Federation.

State govs should follow the economic realities above by allowing more density, fast-tracking development at the council level, blocking nimbyism, allowing houseboats, allowing trailer park permanent living, and rezoning outer areas.

State govs don't (They passively make things worse, but that's a story for another post).


**Any and all ire should be directed at State governments.**