Happy 25 million! Australia's 25m population, which appeared on Tuesday, is unlikely to be a hospital-born baby, but more likely to be an immigrant or temporary resident who has just arrived at the airport.
This means that the long-standing debate over immigration is accelerating, faster than most government, state or federal government, is willing to admit. Government is naturally more interested in Australia's high level of immigration for the additional economic momentum generated by its annual budget.
Many business people feel the same way, stressing the need to gain access to Australia's "skilled talent" in short supply, as well as the need to maintain economic growth and dynamism in competitive and fast-growing regions.
Universities, which urgently need extra money from high-cost foreign students, are also alarmed at the idea of further restrictions on immigration. According to the Global Centre for higher Education, Australia is expected to overtake the United Kingdom this year as the second largest country in the world, behind the United States, and is growing at an annual rate of 12 to 14 percent.
All this means, counting births, deaths, arrivals and departures, Australia is currently adding one person every 83 seconds. Nearly a third of population growth comes from immigration (temporary or permanent) rather than natural growth. This will certainly add a lot of additional service and construction needs in a few years.
But the broader community debate is at the centre of the change.
Early concerns about the environmental impact of a larger population, as well as what used to be called "sustainable development," were largely overwhelmed by the impact of congestion and warnings of rising house prices in Sydney and Melbourne.
city life
Admittedly, home prices are now falling again, but a generation of young people still feel excluded from Australia's real estate market, with many condemning investors, especially foreign investors. If house prices and job growth do fall sharply over the next few years, that sentiment could suddenly change again. But for now, these complaints are true.
Complaints of overcrowding in roads and public transport, as well as high-rise housing flooding the suburbs, also reflect broader social and demographic changes. They include a growing number of people who want to enjoy the conveniences and employment opportunities of urban life, as well as everyone who lives longer and longer. The rise of megacities in relation to rural areas is a global phenomenon, and we have to look at population growth in Australian cities from a number of perspectives.
Despite its rich mythology, Australia has always been one of the most urbanized countries in the world, with a population close to the coast and its largest city. With most new residents heading straight to Sydney and Melbourne, the increase in immigration in recent years will only exacerbate this concentration.
This means that 28% of Australia's population is born overseas, which is much higher in these cities. Attempts to attract new immigrants to rural and rural areas, or cities such as Adelaide, have been limited.
The country most similar to Australia in national and economic terms is Canada, which accounts for about 21% of births overseas. Another western country with a higher proportion of first-generation immigrants is Switzerland, accounting for 29%. No matter how prickly Trump government's construction of the wall will be, the number of people born overseas in Australia is already twice as large as in the United States, which is about 14 percent.
But the arrival of Australia's 25m population today is still many years ahead of what experts predicted at the beginning of this century.
Objection is getting stronger and stronger.
One reason is the strong growth in the number of temporary residents, including last year's one hundred and fifty thousand international students who came to Australia on visas and were often allowed to stay, sometimes indefinitely. Compared with one hundred and fifty thousand births in the previous fiscal year, there are now more than two hundred and sixty thousand net overseas immigrants a year.
Aware of its strong boycott on immigration levels, the Federal government has now significantly tightened temporary visa rules.
According to the latest changes, it is more difficult for technicians to obtain 457-year visas, and short-term visa holders and international students can no longer apply so easily for permanent residency.
However, the long-simmering grudge over how all this can improve the quality of life in the community will not be easily subsided once provoked. That's the way it is now.