In the 12 months to March this year, NSW absorbed 96,761 net overseas migrants.
Resolve director Jim Reed said immigration was often a flashpoint when people were worried about rising living costs and housing pressures, especially in Sydney.
“Sydney is often the first stop for people moving to Australia, so it’s no surprise that NSW voters share the same view as other Australians that current levels of immigration are too high,” Reed said.
“Immigration is often linked to putting additional pressure on housing, living costs, job opportunities, wages, services and infrastructure.”
Reed said that “views of immigration are turning as a result”.
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“Long-term, it is often seen as a positive. One could argue it’s the backbone of modern Australia, and certainly almost all of our respondents would have been either immigrants or descendants of immigrants,” Reed said.
“But almost half now regard recent immigration as having negative impacts, and just a quarter think it has been a positive experience. Like having boat arrivals in years past, this puts the social licence for the whole system at risk.”
Concerns about immigration levels coincide with the state government’s lofty goals to build 377,000 new homes by 2029 in a bid to combat the worsening housing crisis.
Minns and his planning minister, Paul Scully, have conceded that the state would struggle to reach those targets, struck under the National Housing Accord. The government passed its new planning laws this week, which will overhaul 50-year-old legislation to make it quicker to build homes.