Melbourne’s population has increased by an astonishing 1.5 million people (44%) in 20 years:
In turn, the city has been transformed into a permanent building site in an attempt to keep up with the unrelenting population growth.
But it never works, with traffic congestion, infrastructure bottlenecks, and liveability deteriorating year after year.
Worse, the state government has been selling off public assets at a rapid pace in order to fund the infrastructure expenditure.
Nonetheless, Victorians are drowning in state debt and paying ever-increasing taxes and user fees.
Source: IFM Investors (Alex Joiner)
In June, thousands of commuters were stuck queuing up for replacement buses on the Cranbourne line, demonstrating Melbourne’s fall into a ponzi-fueled dystopia:
Hundreds of commuters line up for replacement buses on Cranbourne line.
The photo above was captured on the second day of a two-week suspension of nine of the sixteen rail lines to accommodate work on the West Gate Tunnel Project.
The shutdown caused havoc on Melbourne’s transport network, affecting both public transport and road users.
Last month, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews told Italian-language newspaper Il Globo that he has been lobbying the Albanese Government to lift Australia’s immigration intake:
“We need to do more as a nation to recruit more of those people to come here, not just for a job, but to build a new life because we all benefit from that. So, I’ve always been a very strong supporter of more skilled migration”.
“And the new federal government have taken some important steps towards increasing the amount of permanent skilled migration, but I think they might need to do more again”.
“Prime minister Albanese knows this. I’ve spoken to him about it personally and part of it also is clearing the Visa backlog”.
Dan Andrews’ lobbying comes after the Albanese Government has already ramped net overseas migration to its highest ever level.
According to the May Federal Budget’s projections, Victoria’s population will grow by an astounding 694,000 over the five years to 2026-27:
Source: 2023 federal budget
Therefore, in only five years, Victoria will gain the equivalent of 1.5 Canberra’s worth of population, which will obviously place extreme pressure on infrastructure and housing.
Based on historical population settlement patterns, around 500,000 of this population increase will arrive in Melbourne during the same five years.
However, at the same time as Dan Andrews is calling for even more immigration, his government is busy slashing infrastructure investment:
“Two new rail lines the Andrews government promised to build in Melbourne’s outer west have been axed, watering down an election commitment to deliver frequent Metro train services to some of the nation’s fastest-growing suburbs”.
“New electrified lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale were part of the “Western Rail Plan” Premier Daniel Andrews unveiled ahead of the 2018 election, with a promise to extend the metropolitan train network through the booming suburbs of Tarneit, Deer Park, Ardeer, Cobblebank, Rockbank and Caroline Springs”.
“[But] Rail Projects Victoria (RPV) has cut the new tracks from the Western Rail Plan”.
The Victorian Government has failed miserably in providing adequate public housing, infrastructure, and services to the state’s ballooning population.
Yet, Premier Dan Andrews wants even more immigration, while cutting infrastructure to the very places suffering the most through rapacious population growth.
Soon the once “Marvellous Melbourne” will be transformed into “unliveable Hellbourne”.
