How immigration is about to explode after Anthony Albanese's election win - after claims emerged it helped Labor triumph at the election

Daily Mail​

23-05-2025

Immigration is likely to remain at high levels following Anthony Albanese 's landslide election win - amid warnings large numbers of Indian and Chinese migrants will give Labor a permanent voting bloc.
Labor promised to ease immigration before the last election but in the year to March, 437,440 migrants came to Australia on a permanent and long-term basis.
This was significantly higher than Treasury's March Budget forecast of 335,000 for 2024-25, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics data casting doubt on Labor's promise to reduce it to 260,000 during the upcoming financial year.
MacroBusiness chief economist Leith van Onselen said the high concentration of Chinese and Indian voters was likely to keep giving Labor a solid, long-term voting bloc, helping it to keep having safe seats in Sydney and Melbourne.
'If we're getting so much migration from one or two countries - India followed by China - you risk creating voting blocs,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
This could lead to new minor parties based on ethnicity being created, that preferenced Labor, forcing it to adopt their policy demands, with international students already allowed to bring a spouse to Australia.
'If this keeps going on in the next 10 years, we'll have a situation where it could be like London,' he said.
'We'll start getting voting blocs form where they might actually form an Indian political party that lobbies for interests that are favourable to Indians, whether it's more parental visas ... they'll create voting blocs and lobby groups that lobby for their interests but not necessarily in the greater interests of Australia.
'If we're we're supposed to support this multiculturalism and diversity and all this other stuff, you don't go about that by importing most of your people from one or two countries, you should be spreading the load.'
During the past decade, the number of Australian residents born in Indian has more than doubled from 411,240 to 916,330, making it second now only to England.
The number of Chinese-born residents has surged from 466,510 to 700,120, putting it in third place ahead of New Zealand.
The Labor-held seat of Parramatta went from being marginal to ultra-safe with an 8.9 per cent swing to the ALP, giving it 62.6 per cent of the two-party vote.
But in the Parramatta city booth, Labor had 70.2 per cent of the vote after preferences.
It catered to voters at Harris Park, a short walk away, where 45.4 per cent of residents were born in India.
'The Indian diaspora in Australia overwhelmingly votes Labor over the Coalition,' Mr van Onselen said.
Within this same electorate, the Epping polling booth, a former Liberal stronghold, delivered Labor 75.7 per cent of the vote after preferences.
In this suburb, 40.4 per cent of people have Chinese ancestry and 19.7 per cent of them were born in China.
'Unfortunately, Labor is incentivised to maintain this,' Mr van Onselen said.
Labor enjoyed a massive 9.34 per cent swing to it in Bennelong on Sydney's lower north shore, turning it from an ultra marginal electorate, with no ALP buffer, into a safe seat in a traditional Liberal heartland.
The Lane Cove booth, another former Liberal stronghold, gave Labor a massive 68 per cent of the two-party vote and in this suburb, 14 per cent of people have Chinese ancestry, more than double the national average of 5.5 per cent.
The Chinese vote is also high in seats Labor won off the Liberal Party.
Labor candidate Zhi Soon won Banks in south-west Sydney with a five per cent swing to him.
Within this electorate, the ALP won Hurstville with 60 per cent of the two-party vote in a suburb where 47 per cent of residents have Chinese ancestry.
In Melbourne, Labor candidate Gabrielle Ng won the eastern suburbs seat of Menzies off the Liberal Party with a small 0.67 per cent swing.
But in the Box Hill polling booth, there was a bigger 2.85 per cent swing in a suburb where 39 per cent of residents have Chinese ancestry.
Mr van Onselen said high immigration, including a large number of students on bridging visas hoping to stay longer in Australia, had created longer-term political advantages for one side of politics.
It only takes three years to become a citizen with voting rights after being a permanent resident.
High immigration was likened to a political gerrymander where a political party manipulates electorates to stay in power.
'It's a longer-term gerrymander - this is why they're incentivising the big Australia policy because they're basically sandbagging their supporter base for the long term,' he said.