In every reliable poll during and since COVID, voters want lower or much lower migration. Smooth-operator Burke has been put there in place of hapless O'Neil/Giles to snow them, not to listen to them. Clearly, the author is not listening either. Whether she likes it not, Net Migration is the best measure we have, and that's why Treasury uses it. Est. Natural Increase + Est. Net Migration = Population Growth. It's all very well to use soothing measures like % permanent migration, but the continent has the same size and capacity as at 1901, it has to deal with the absolute numbers. Our 2005-2023 population jump from 20m to 26.5m represents ~ 32%, which is extraordinarily high for a large developed economy. The Treasury plan to keep growing the population up to 40m is reckless, and not sustainable on the driest continent. Likewise, Albanese's 2022-24 Net Migration tally of around 1m is off the scale, beating the previous Rudd record by well over 300k, and it should not be sugar-coated as "normal". It is has no historical precedent. Nor has it any voter consent.