Policy Focus: Migration – Balancing humanitarian & workforce needs
Population growth, state migration planning, and local advocacy highlight the central role of councils in shaping Australia’s migration future.
Our population reached 27.3 million in September 2024, growing by 484,000 people over the year. Although growth has slowed from the pandemic rebound peak of 2.5 per cent to 1.8 per cent, net overseas migration remains the main driver, adding 380,000 people in the past year.
With fertility at a record low of 1.49 babies per woman, migration will remain central to meeting workforce and community needs, making population management a critical policy issue for all tiers of government.
State-level trends highlight the opportunities and challenges. Victoria and Queensland recorded growth above the national average, driven primarily by migration, while Tasmania and the Northern Territory saw very low growth.
New South Wales released its first State Migration Plan for 2024–2028, which sets strategic priorities to address critical skills shortages in housing, renewables, the care economy, digital industries, and agriculture. Importantly, the plan emphasises the need for collaboration between the Commonwealth and states, with a focus on aligning migration to economic and workforce strategies.
Local governments sit at the intersection of these national and state priorities. Councils are directly responsible for housing, infrastructure, and community services, which are the first to feel the impacts of both humanitarian and skilled migration flows.
Advocacy initiatives such as the Back Your Neighbour campaign demonstrate how councils are responding to the humanitarian dimensions of migration, while the NSW State Migration Plan underscores the structural role migration will play in workforce and regional development. Ensuring local government perspectives are embedded in these frameworks is essential to creating sustainable migration and settlement policies that work for communities across Australia.
Consultations were recently held on the 2025 Core Skills Occupations List (CSOL). Drafted by Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), the CSOL will determine which occupations remain eligible for skilled migration visas, shaping the workforce pipeline across critical industries.
JSA is consulting with industry, unions, governments, and communities to assess over 800 occupations, using evidence such as labour market shortages, graduate supply, and wage data. For councils, this process is an important opportunity to highlight workforce gaps—particularly in essential services and regional economies—so that the final list reflects the realities faced on the ground.
To support this, ALGA has offered to share information from the upcoming Local Government Jobs and Skills Survey with JSA, ensuring the needs of councils are represented in national workforce planning.
More resources: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/migration-strategy