South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has delivered a sharp warning to Australians calling for migration cuts, saying lower immigration would only make the nation’s biggest challenges “worse”.
Speaking at the Sydney Institute on Wednesday night, Malinauskas made a forceful case for skilled migration, arguing that overseas workers bring a major economic upside and help strengthen Australia’s public finances.
‘A primary skilled migrant delivers a net benefit of about $415,000 to government finances over their lifetime in Australia, while the average native-born Australian costs the government around $85,000,’ he said.
‘Want more affordable housing? We need more sparkies, tilers, roofers and bricklayers. Want Mum and Dad to get an aged care bed? We need more trained care workers.
‘If you value public education and Medicare but worry about government debt, migration helps pay for it. It’s that simple.
‘Skilled migrants are big net taxpayers … Not only is immigration not a drain on our public services, migration is part of the reason governments can afford to pay for those services.’
The staunchly pro-migration Labor state leader used his argument to warn against falling prey to the migration crackdown desires of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party which has surged in the polls since the May 2025 federal election.
‘I’m here to insist that Australians in positions of leadership must now be on stages like this one and explain how unreasonably slashing our immigration intake is not going to fix our problems,’ Malinauskas said.
Peter Malinauskas (pictured) warned that cutting migration levels would make things ‘worse’
The Coalition and One Nation have both called for lower levels of migration into Australia
‘It is only going to make them worse.’
‘The prospect of mainstream politics descending into a race to the bottom over who can cut migration the most is madness.’
Malinauskas said people worried about migration rates were more likely to be anxious about economic impacts, including housing supply, than they were to be racist.
On the national scene, debate is intensifying as One Nation links Australia’s migration rate with the housing crisis and inner-city crime.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke delayed a National Press Club speech in August in which he was widely expected to announce migration cuts. It is understood the cabinet is still finalising plans.
Australia’s net overseas migration fell to 301,000 in 2025, which was a 45 per cent decrease from the post-Covid peak in 2023 and down 9 per cent from 2024.
One Nation has called for the rate to be slashed to 130,000 visas per year, though numbers presented by party members in recent months have varied.
The coalition wants lower levels correlating to the number of homes built the year prior, while pursuing what its policy terms a ‘values-based’ scheme to ensure migrants support the so-called Australian way of life.
One Nation has called for the rate to be slashed to 130,000 visas per year, though numbers presented by party members in recent months have varied
On Thursday morning, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said migration levels remained too high, arguing that population growth was outstripping Australia’s ability to build enough homes.
‘When you have 550,000 in a year, and housing is well below 200,000, it doesn’t match. It just doesn’t match,’ he said.
Taylor said Australia needed to ensure housing, infrastructure and services kept pace with the population.
‘We need to make sure that we have enough houses for the population growth we’ve got in this country.’
He said that was ‘common sense’, but argued it ‘has not been the common sense of the [Albanese] government’.
But Mr Malinauskas did not agree with the coalition’s arguments, calling for a more nuanced understanding from all parties on skills shortages.
‘Australia doesn’t really have a migration crisis so much as a housing crisis,’ he told ABC Radio.
‘If we have a housing crisis, we would do well to focus our skills policy on making sure that we’re bringing in the very workers that we require in the housing and construction industry.’
The premier said it was incumbent on leaders to make strong economic arguments for a well-calibrated migration program that did not arbitrarily block people from entering the country.