Australia should set immigration targets to achieve a ‘stable temporary population’, report says

‘Our argument is not that migration should simply be cut, it is that Australia needs a better way to govern “temporariness”,’ say the authors of a new report that proposes Australia set immigration targets. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Australia should set immigration targets to achieve a “stable temporary population” to address the ballooning number of non-permanent residents that has stretched the country’s public services and housing, a new report argues.

Temporary migrants as a share of the total population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, from 2.7% in 2010, to more than 6%.