Immigration up. Productivity down.

Australia’s long term productivity growth rate has hit its lowest point in the last 20 years, down to 0.9%.

Over the past week there has been a lot of talk about “capital deepening” and attracting more investment in Australia. But the truth that Labor doesn’t want to acknowledge is that their insane immigration policy is driving this productivity crisis. We have seen record immigration numbers over the past three years and early data suggests we’ll be back up there again this year!

Labor has flooded Australia with low-skilled workers while industries are stretched thin, unable to invest in the tools, technology, or training required to boost efficiency. As a result, everyday Australians are competing for less work in a less productive environment and wages are flatlining as a result.

On top of that disaster, this flood of immigrants needs somewhere to live, so the same Australians that are watching their real wages shrink also get to watch the dream of owning a home evaporates in front of them. It’s hard to imagine a more demoralising, dismal state of affairs for our young Australians to step into.

How can the government talk about productivity without acknowledging this critical issue? How do we expect Australians to work harder, when we are stripping them of the rewards?

The government’s response? A so-called “economic round table,” rebranded from its original “productivity” title, as if a name change could mask their lack of solutions. Days of discussions have yielded little more than recycled tax proposals and empty rhetoric.