<< Though if we don't invest in infrastructure as we grow we'll end up in a right royal mess. >>

Absolutely Tristan.

So it is surely completely daft to continue to rapidly increase the demand for infrastructure while the supply side is looking precarious!

This is an amazing phenomenon – that just about everyone thinks that the demand side is unaddressable, even if the supply side is critically not up to meeting the demand!

I encounter this all the time on OLO!

It is just so utterly nonsensical! We absolutely need to pull right back on the immigration rate, at least until we catch up with infrastructure and services…. and then have an immigration rate that does not exceed our ability to provide I&S, and in a manner that leads to an overall steady improvement for the whole population.

Yes there are economies of scale. And there are diseconomies. More congestion, more environmental alienation, a faster rate or exploitation of non-renewable and potentially renewable resources, etc. In fact I would argue that the downsides well and truly outweigh any economies of scale or other upsides to rapid immigration.

Afterall, we’ve had high immigration for a long time now, and it just hasn’t cut it in terms of providing real economic growth, improving our nation’s average quality of life or future prosperity and security. And we’ve got steadily further and further into debt and further behind in I & S... despite the massive wealth generating by the mining boom.

High immigration is enormously stupid. It is a critically important factor that everyone should be thinking about in relation to the next federal budget.