Australia plans to bring record-high levels of migration under control by cracking down on student visas and unskilled migration, as the country struggles with a growing housing crisis that has pushed rents to their highest levels in more than a decade.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil will release the centre-left Labor government’s long-awaited Migration Strategy on Monday (Dec 11), aiming to return Australia’s migrant intake back to near pre-pandemic levels by June 2025 at the latest.

New estimates of net overseas migration to be released later this week will show Australia welcomed more than half a million people in the financial year ended Jun 30, according to the Department of Treasury. That is the highest annual arrivals in the country’s history and at least 100,000 more than was expected in April.

However projections, which will be released as part of the government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook on Wednesday, will show net overseas migration is expected to drop to 375,000 in the financial year ending June 2024 and then 250,000 the following year.

The surge in migration has helped fuel Australia’s growing housing crisis, which has seen rents grow at their fastest rates in decades and worsened the cost-of-living crunch for a nation already struggling with stubbornly high inflation. Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the year through September revealed nationwide rents grew by 7.6 per cent over that period, the highest since 2009.

In a statement, O’Neil said the surge in migration over the past financial year was largely a post-pandemic “catch up” and was driven by international students.

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“The Migration Strategy is all about getting migration working for the country, including by the right settings to ease workforce shortages that are holding our country back without putting undue stress on other parts of our economy,” she said.

As part of the Migration Strategy, O’Neil will announce plans for a new Skills in Demand visa to be brought in by late 2024 as one of a suite of measures to address skills shortages in the Australian economy. At the same time, there will be a crackdown on international student visas, including a plan to increase English language requirements by early next year. BLOOMBERG