Australian Prime Minister Plans To Reduce Immigration, Citing Urban Crowding

Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia has proposed that the government impose stricter limits on immigration to control overcrowding in the country’s major cities.

Population growth has played a major role in the country’s economic success, but people in Australia’s biggest cities are alarmed about an influx of immigrants, Mr. Morrison said Monday night at the Bradfield Oration, a speech delivered to influential figures in Sydney’s business, media and urban planning sectors.

“They are saying: enough, enough, enough,” he said. “The roads are clogged, the buses and trains are full. The schools are taking no more enrollments.”

The move to reduce the current cap on immigration by nearly 30,000 people represents a turnaround for Australia, a country of 25 million that has relied on immigrant labor and know-how to fuel its economic and population growth.

Since 2012, Australia has maintained an annual cap of 190,000 on its permanent migration program. But in the yearlong period starting in July 2017, the number of immigrants dropped to 162,000, a 10 percent decline from the previous year’s figure and the lowest number in a decade.

The cap is likely to be adjusted next year to reflect that decline, Mr. Morrison said, after the government solicited feedback from states and territories in Australia.

While some cities were looking to grow, others, like Sydney, the country’s largest, were suffering from “pressure points” in infrastructure, congestion and other public services, and these needed to be addressed, he added.

But experts cautioned that any cuts to immigration should be carefully considered given the potential implications.

“These decisions have very long-term consequences — enormous consequences for congestion, for infrastructure, various businesses,” said Abul Rizvi, a former senior immigration official. “I would strongly encourage him to slow down,” Mr. Rizvi said of the prime minister.

For the federal government, immigration has become a hotly contested issue, one that will most likely galvanize voters ahead of an election next year. According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics, about half of all Australians were born overseas or had one parent who was born overseas. More than 80 percent of those born overseas live in the country’s capital cities, with the biggest populations in Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr. Rizvi said the planned changes would have a disproportionate impact on businesses in Sydney, where, in the past, federal and state governments had encouraged newcomers, particularly international students, to settle.

“Now you’ve got a huge success,” he said of efforts to draw students and other immigrants to Sydney, “and you’re complaining that they’re crowding out the roads?”

Mr. Morrison’s speech is just the latest attempt to address concerns over immigration to Sydney and Melbourne. In October, the government announced it was considering a plan to require new migrants to settle in different areas of the country for up to five years after their arrival in Australia.

The new immigration policy will be discussed with state and territorial leaders at a meeting next month, he said.