People are leaving Australia in the highest numbers since the pandemic
People are leaving Australia in the highest numbers since the pandemic, easing population growth and signalling the end of a two-year migrant boom overseen by the Albanese government despite its pledges to curb immigration.
International student numbers have also started stabilising after years of concern over surging arrivals, which will relieve Labor ministers who last year tried to limit overseas enrolments but were blocked by the Coalition and Greens in parliament.
But the green shoots for Labor will be countered by new challenges in other parts of the immigration system, such as a growing cohort of people on bridging visas and skilled graduates seeking longer stays.
The government on Thursday welcomed fresh figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that showed 70,000 people left the country in the December quarter of last year – the highest departure figures since the March 2020, when 88,500 people left Australia as the pandemic struck.
It follows departure numbers of 65,000 in September 2024 and 63,000 in June 2024, which were already the highest since the end of 2020.
Until then, departure rates lagged, leading to record surges in the population. About 50,000 people left Australia each quarter in 2022-23, while more than triple that number arrived, hindering the Albanese government's efforts to keep a lid on population growth and exposing Labor to political attack for losing control of the immigration system.
Former immigration department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi said the recent uptick in departure rates was good news for the government, albeit inevitable given how many people had arrived. 'The peak has passed [and] policy has to some degree done what it's supposed to do,' he said.
Further relief has come from a relative stall in student numbers. There were about 673,000 student visa holders in Australia in March this year, compared with 671,000 in March 2024, 583,000 in March 2023, and 336,844 in March 2022.
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