Australians are leaving hubs like Sydney and Melbourne for other parts of the country amid a flush in immigration levels under Labor, according to official data. In the year 2024-2025, more than 33,000 residents left Sydney while 8,600 abandoned Melbourne. Moreover, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra are also experiencing net negative internal migration, revealed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in March 2026.
However, the entire country has marked an elevation in net overseas migration. In Sydney it was 78,000, in Melbourne it was 81,000 and in Adelaide it was 18,000, during the same period. Brisbane's population grew by 34,000 and 11,000 from internal migration while Perth experienced 37,000 and 8,000 respectively. In Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, births were also heavily outnumbered by immigrants.
