"We've built an economy that requires 2 million temporary migrants" — Martin Parkinson [Immigration Series]

Part 1 of a three-part immigration series this week. Mark Cully (history) drops Thursday; Mike Pezzullo (acculturation, social cohesion, security) drops Friday.  Martin Parkinson ran the Australian Treasury (2011-2014), then the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet (2015-2019). He's also thought deeply about the economics of migration policy, not just in those roles, but also in his past academic life and as chair of the Australian government's 2023 Migration Review (the most significant review of our migration system in more than three decades). We discuss the central but underappreciated issue with Australian migration policy today: we've drifted into a quasi-guest-worker system without anyone voting for it. About 2.3 million people in Australia now go to sleep here every night with work rights, but without being citizens or permanent residents. We also work through how migration affects living standards, the "Soviet-style" occupation list that governs our skilled program, how to attract true global talent, how international student fees came to subsidise roughly half of Australian university research, and what should be the upper and lower bounds for net migration. We end up in an unexpected place: how much more geopolitical weight would a larger population actually buy us? (Episode recorded on 27 February 2026.) Sponsors Eucalyptus: the Aussie startup providing digital healthcare clinics to help patients around the world take control of their quality of life. Euc is looking to hire ambitious young Aussies and Brits. You can check out their open roles at eucalyptus.health/careers. Vanta: helps businesses automate security and compliance needs. For a limited time, get one thousand dollars off Vanta at vanta.com/joe. Use the discount code "JOE". To sponsor a future episode, go to https://josephnoelwalker.com/sponsor/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.