In this interview Adam Creighton appeared on The Rita Panahi Show – Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research into Immigration.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research.
Below is a transcript of the interview.
Rita Panahi:
Joining me now for more on this is Senior Fellow and Chief Economist at The Institute of Public Affairs, Adam Creighton. Adam, is it okay if it’s women using the B-word against the Premiers? Is still sexist? Where do we stand on this?
Adam Creighton:
Well, look, I mean, it’s probably ridiculous to say that they’re sexist or misogynistic because they are women themselves. I mean, look, it was a crude remark. It was a crash remark, but these people are justifiably angry. I mean, they’ve basically had their tax bill tripled. I mean, the total revenue from the Emergency Services Levy last year was roughly 500 million. This financial year, 1.5 billion. And so that’s basically a tripling for all these people. No wonder they are furious. So the Labor Party is trying to use this as a distraction from the fundamental issue, which is increased tax, fiscal recklessness, and they’re trying to smear the opposition leader as a sexist, but it’s just totally ridiculous. And as if they’re really upset anyway, I mean, this language, it’s not that extreme. If you go to the movies, you watch TV, you see a lot worse than that.
Rita Panahi:
You do see a lot worse than that. But we saw how much mileage they got from Ditch the Witch and the fact that Tony Abbott was at that rally and that sign was somewhere in the background. So I think the Labor Party here in Victoria seeing an opportunity, I can see the ad campaigns coming up, but I’m not sure if they want to publicise this particular issue because to be upsetting volunteer firefighters, to be upsetting our farmers whilst they’re suffering this terrible drought. I mean, it’s not an issue they’re strong on.
Adam Creighton:
Yeah, certainly that’s true. And also the Liberal Party could go and interview the women that actually wrote these supposedly sexist, sexist thing. So no, I think that they should steer clear of it and it won’t be as successful as it was federally with Tony Abbott.
Rita Panahi:
And just finally on that, what about the allegation that the Vic Libs have a deep-rooted women’s problem? You could make that argument. We’ve seen the Moira Deeming scandal, a very different, deep-seated women’s problem than the one Labor’s alleging here.
Adam Creighton:
Well, look, I wouldn’t say that’s a male female thing. That’s a personality thing. It’s a problem with the political party here. I mean, frankly, if they can’t win the election next year, they must be the worst opposition in the history of Australia, basically, because the Labor government here is really hopeless. We just talked about one aspect of it with the tripling of the services Levy, the Emergency Services Levy. But it’s not just that. It’s a whole range of things.
Rita Panahi:
It’s across the board.
Adam Creighton:
So they really have to win, for all our sakes.
Rita Panahi:
Well, I think it absolutely, it’s an indictment on the Victorian Libs that it’s got this far, the fact that they have been so uncompetitive, even as we’ve had successive Labor governments that have failed almost across the board. You look at the economic performance, you look at the societal issues, you look at the craziness of six lockdowns, I could go on. Now let’s check in on how Labor is doing on its promise to reduce overall migration, federal Labor. We now have the data for May 2025, and Australia recorded the highest level yet of net long-term and permanent arrivals for the month of May.
Now, while that isn’t purely overseas migration, it is a strong indicator of what’s going on. Almost 2 million migrants from overseas have moved to Australia since late 2021. And when COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, and that includes a net gain of 446,000 people through overseas migration in 2024 financial year alone. I mean, that is an astonishing change to the country. How will that change the country, Adam?
Adam Creighton:
It certainly is. Look, I mean, I had to check those figures because they’re just so extreme. And as you pointed out, the Prime Minister did say earlier this year that the rate of immigration would fall to 260,000 net overseas migration. Well, we are on track at the current rate for this calendar year of 590,000. Okay. And the figure for the financial year that just ended was supposed to be 335,000 net overseas migration. We don’t even have the figures yet for June, but it’s already 27% out at 90,000 more than the forecast of 335.
So, it really is out of control. And to answer your question, well, we’re just going to get our GDP per capita going backwards every quarter. It’s going to be bad for the government in the second quarter of this year, I would say. We just had the main figure. It’s huge. It’s the highest ever. And when they work out GDP per capita, obviously they just divide GDP by how many people are in the country. And if you’ve got a lot more, it’s going to shrink, so.
Rita Panahi:
The impact’s just going to be enormous. I mean, you look at the societal issues, but the impact on infrastructure, the impact on housing, on hospital waiting lists, all sorts of areas.
Adam Creighton:
Yeah. No, the link with rents is obviously very strong and direct. I mean, I went to a conference in Sydney last week, and there was an academic paper that showed a very strong link with the level of immigration and the rents in Sydney and Melbourne, which of course stands to reason. But it is not just the rents. As you say, it’s the infrastructure, it’s the housing, it’s social cohesion too. Most of these people are coming from developing countries. Is that what we really want? I don’t know. You have to be careful talking about that sometimes but…
Rita Panahi:
Well, you have to be careful talking about it, but you shouldn’t be because we are lucky to be an island nation, and we can determine what is the ideal population for this country, and then set policies to achieve that. Most countries can’t do that. They’ve got poorest borders, but we have got a control of our borders, and we should be able to have a discussion without people losing their minds and screaming racism and trying to silence people. Adam Creighton, thank you so much for your time tonight.
Adam Creighton:
Thanks, Rita.
This transcript of Adam Creighton speaking on The Rita Panahi Show – Sky News Australia from 16 July 2025 has been edited for clarity.
