There is a sting in the tail from news this week that Australia’s population will grow more slowly and be 1.2 million smaller in a decade than anticipated.
average personal income tax rate will rise from about 23 per cent this year to almost 27 per cent over the next decade, even if the much-debated stage three personal income tax cuts take effect from 2024-25.
“When your population is ageing, like a lot of countries around the world and like we are here in Australia, that does put pressure on the budget because you want to be able to provide great healthcare and great services and appropriate levels of pensions and other payments for people at that stage of life,” Chalmers said.
Australia will age slower than many comparable developed economies, but it still faces the challenge of an ageing population and Chalmers indicated this week that he is alert to those challenges. Chalmers is walking a careful path on the touchy subject of migration, perhaps mindful of the sensitivities of the community and unions to large migration numbers and the potential political damage from getting it wrong.
Amid a major worker shortage, the Albanese government at September’s Jobs and Skills Summit increased the number of permanent migration visas available in 2022-23 from 160,000 to 195,000 places – creating an extra 35,000 permanent visas. Hence, fertility won’t make a major difference to Australia’s future population and demographic structure.Australian National University emeritus professor of demography Peter McDonald says population policy is “all about migration”.
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