Since that time, he says Australia "has become more culturally diverse. Different skin colours, and more diversity, show up in many areas, including restaurants and supermarkets."

Penchant for understatement

Diversity has even hit the once staid world of big accounting firms. Doyle is now a lead partner with Deloittes in its NSW Digital Division, dealing with new apps and websites, and what he calls "digital transformation" – a vague term meaning high-tech-generated disruption.

"It sounds more important than it is. I just get things done," says Leon, drawing on a pre-digital, more traditional – less "cutting edge", if you like – Australian penchant for understatement.

Part of "getting things done" is using that modern Australian diversity, which Leon himself is such a part of, to make money; so, for example, he is data-mapping ethnic diversity for Deloittes. "We love the diversity that is coming to this country because it powers our business. I think this is a wonderful thing," he says.

Karthikeyan Prabhakar: " I've never felt alienated. I've never felt I have not been treated with kindness or dignity." supplied

"Different people from different backgrounds bring different ideas, and a different lens to view the world. You need that diversity of thinking if you're going to compete."

"I bring different skills to the table" is the way Karthikeyan Prabhakar, working for rival big four accounting firm KPMG, puts it.


These two represent the success side of Australia's extraordinary demographic boom. Along with the arrival of China as a global economic superpower, the demographic boom is the major influence on a rapidly changing Australia.

It is not just replacing the mining investment boom and powering the economy. The demographic boom is also driving wider change – raising energy levels, making street life more vital and interesting, as well as more diverse and complex; but also, at times, bewildering for those who feel left behind and disconnected from the gig economy.

For such a massive shift, one problem in dealing with change is the constipated nature of the debate about immigration. On one side it is hampered by Manichaean rhetoric, where mass migration is seen as an unadulterated good, and those who find fault with, or want to reduce, the numbers, are, in political terms, wusses or racists or xenophobes.

On the other side, there is an overly protective, verging on censoring, attitude towards issues like the widely differing educational and professional attainments of different communities among recent arrivals, plus a proverbial fatwa against discussion about those groups who are more prone to violent crime, or terrorism.

Bizarre disdain

On this side there is also a bizarre disdain for taking into account the historical context. Australia practised a rigid whites-only immigration policy for the first two thirds of the 20th century. This means the rapidly changing ethnic composition largely resulting from our extremely ambitious migration program is changing the blood and soul of the country at a rate that is unrecognisable in other countries where technology is the main driver of change.

At a narrow, direct level, the local change is one where the results, if not the declared emphasis, mean there is a premium on bringing in more people with professional skills, like Karthikeyan Prabakhar, particularly those who are temperamentally and professionally attuned to thriving in the new economy.


The overall figures may be common reference points, but that does not make them any less astonishing. Not only has net migration zoomed more than 15 per cent in the past 12 months to 250,000 a year, but demand driven by this increase – new homes and apartments, purchases of white goods, furniture and perishables, plus investment in new schools, hospitals and roads – is powering an Australian economic growth story now in its 27th year.

Population growth rates fluctuate, but Australia's population has grown by 3.75 million in the 10-year period up to 2016. This means an annual population growth rate of 1.7 per cent. Tracking the same decade, the growth rate in the world's more developed countries grew – in population terms – by an average 0.3 per cent.

Other English-speaking countries, like the US, Canada and New Zealand, experienced population growth rates significantly lower than Australia's. The only countries that experienced higher population growth rates than Australia are Israel, Luxembourg and Singapore.

Two factors – net overseas migration, or the total number of annual migrants subtracted by those who leave the country during the same period, and natural population growth (the difference between births and deaths each year) – share about half each of the annual increase.

Demographic boom

Interest in coming here – to settle permanently, work in Australia, or study locally – is strong. Over the last five years, official figures show immigration averaged about 480,000 a year and emigration about 280,000. This puts annual net overseas migration around 200,000, or 50,000 below the most recent figure.


But the demographic boom is not just driven by high migration numbers. The natural increase in population is responsible for 44 per cent of population growth, according to official figures. The combination of a strong skills-based migration program, an extended baby boom plus a healthy fertility rate, means we are, on average, younger than the age profile of comparable countries.

However, there are flaws. According to veteran demographer Bob Birrell, the "very high intake skills" program was meant to be "all about skills that are very scarce in Australia. [But] that is not the case. "

Birrell, who is head of the Australian Population Research Institute and was earlier founding director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University, says there is not only an effective mismatch between skills shortages and the operation of the program, but about half the new arrivals are settling in Sydney and Melbourne, exacerbating housing costs, traffic congestion, and putting more pressure on schools and local hospitals.

"All of the problems of congestion and housing affordability are going to be just that much worse," he says.

Birrell also detects a perverse political paradox at work in the way in which such a sensitive issue is being played out in the public domain. The recent call by former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott to halve the migration rate "has actually turned out to be counter-productive in the sense that the willingness on the part of [fellow conservative and Turnbull government Home Affairs Minister Peter] Dutton to consider reductions in the skilled program has just had to go on the back burner".

He says Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and Treasurer Scott Morrison "all came out and justified the program, which makes it just that more difficult for the government to reduce the [numbers in the program]".

Context is important

Recent adjustments to the 457 temporary visa program and other changes "indicate a willingness on the part of government to do something, but [it is] stalled at the moment".


"The context is so important. Migration growth is giving a significant component of economic growth, so the government is reluctant to take action." However, the "scale" of the program "and its concentration on Sydney and Melbourne, are really making the pips squeak. The issue is going up the attention cycle and the government is going to have problems if it doesn't act."

According to Birrell, the current migration program "has dramatically changed the country", most notably in Australia's "ethnic make-up", while in the economic sphere the program's influence "is really quite fundamental."

This is particularly so in housing. Birrell notes that in recent years the annual growth in mortgage indebtedness has been about $100 billion a year, or about 6 per cent of GDP.

"This helps to promote consumption and re-investment. It's a very significant driver," he says.

"I'm not saying it's the only factor [in the growth in mortgage indebtedness] but in Sydney and Melbourne net overseas migration is contributing to about half the growth in new housing."

Moreover, the "impetus" migration has given to Australia's ethnic diversity has also "given a kick along to promoting a multicultural, sophisticated country. That has clearly given an impetus to the graduate class" – people like Karthikeyan Prabhakar – "and most of those in recent years have been derived from Asia. That has [in turn] given a huge impetus to the multicultural feel of Australia.

"It is something the graduate class and the intelligentsia view as exceedingly important. That's why the Labor Party and the Greens won't cut immigration. They see the immigration program as symbolic of this change.


"Within government circles they all seem to think that our immigration program is state of the art." However, a recent study of the skills program by the Australian Population Research Institute "shows it is a myth".

"The government's actually stated criteria stipulates that we're not focusing on [current] scarce skills but rather on skills that might be needed in two-10 years' time. Rules have been changed over the past four-five years and the criteria pays no Attention to current skills shortages," Birrell says.

Working holidays

Chris Wright, a senior lecturer in the Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies in the Business School at Sydney University, says Birrell is "right up to a point" in that the recent government changes have not directly addressed the issue of skills shortages, or cutting back the flow of skilled migrants where those shortages don't exist.

"The permanent migration program is working well," he says. However, "what we've seen happen in recent times is the much heavier reliance on temporary migration".

Many of the people coming to Australia on temporary visas – working holiday makers and students – serve a particular purpose. In practice, however, "the way these visas are regulated isn't particularly great in terms of the oversight provided".

As a result, there is widespread exploitation and even abuse of those on temporary visas, and "I wouldn't be surprised if this is feeding some of the anxiety about migration", Wright says.

Back in Melbourne, Doyle agrees there are "absolute challenges" as well. "If migrants bring great potential to business and society, then the question becomes: how do you best tap into and maximise the potential? How do you make sure we embrace these new Australians coming into the country?


"If you have diversity without inclusion it doesn't work. It's just numbers. It becomes meaningless if your people and leaders don't practise inclusive behaviour."

Further, "you cannot consider having a high level of migration without addressing questions of support around infrastructure", including transport, as well as education, health and policing.

But Doyle does not dwell on the downside of Australia's demographic boom. "The reason I have chosen to have my two sons in Australia is that this is an amazing country. You read about how children are scared to go to school in the US. [Former Liberal prime minister] John Howard did an incredible job [by tightening gun control after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre].

"The values that I see in Australia are the ones of a moderate, tolerant, curious nation that embraces people and change. If you look long and hard enough you're going to discover someone with a contrary view. But I know lots of older Australians who think we don't have enough migrants.

"We throw around terms like 'older Australians' without giving them their due. They are pluralistic, wonderful, warm people.

"There's a strong enough culture here for people to become Australianised. Not long after they get here they realise it's pretty nice. It only takes one trip back to the home country to realise they're pretty well off.

"We seem to be more laid back so people take that on a bit."