Two important reports have recently been released that deal with the thorny issues of population growth, immigration and urban planning. The Federal Treasury’s ‘Shaping a Nation’ Report sets out to inform debate about immigration and its contribution to Australia’s future prosperity. It sets out important facts about Australia’s population growth and the role of immigration in the wider Australian economy. Most people already understand that migration has made up a substant

It’s easy for Victorian State opposition to criticise the Andrews Government for supposedly underestimating the impact of population growth on our suburbs, but let’s not forget that the majority of Victoria’s growth comes from immigration, which is set by the Federal government. In 2016, almost 400,000 workers and students arrived in Australia under an uncapped Federal temporary immigration program. That is over double the number of people who arrived under the permanent migr

For the 20 or so years that I have lived in Kensington I have looked across as the striking façade of the Younghusband Woolstores and wondered how long these magnificent buildings would survive. I always hoped that they would be reinvented for new types of enterprise but expected that they would at some point come under threat of demolition to make way for apartment buildings. In 2011 this almost happened – a proposal to construct a tall apartment building on the site was lod