Australia has never driven migration into reverse by design. Would slamming the brakes on be calamitous?

Australia does have a migration challenge – but it’s not what One Nation and the Coalition think it is Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast Australia is flirting with the idea of something it has never done: deliberately driving net overseas migration into reverse. In the history of our immigrant nation, extended periods of more people leaving our shores than arriving have only happened duri

Patrick Commins October 11, 2026 · 5:00 PM 1 MIN READ

Australia does have a migration challenge – but it’s not what One Nation and the Coalition think it is

Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast

Australia is flirting with the idea of something it has never done: deliberately driving net overseas migration into reverse.

In the history of our immigrant nation, extended periods of more people leaving our shores than arriving have only happened during convulsive moments: economic collapses, wars, and pandemics.