Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has urged a fresh dialogue on topics such as immigration, housing, and the essence of Australia’s national identity, emphasizing that many citizens feel like ‘strangers in our own home’.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Hastie connected the ongoing housing shortage and declining birth rates to what he termed as ‘unsustainable’ levels of net overseas migration.

‘Our allegiance is to the Australian people,’ Hastie said.

‘We need to ensure Australians have access to housing. Similar to efforts post-World War Two. Yet, many young people have lost hope in owning a home. Without a stable home, starting a family becomes nearly impossible.’

Hastie highlighted that Australia’s fertility rate has fallen to a record low of 1.5 births per woman, suggesting that population growth is increasingly reliant on migration.

‘In 2023–24, the Net Overseas Migration rate was 446,000 people, the largest group being temporary students,’ he said.

‘In the last two years, we’ve added nearly a million extra people to our population.’

Hastie blamed Labor’s immigration policies for straining infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and housing.

‘Australians are locked out of the housing market. Many are house poor, spending most of their income on rent or mortgages,’ he said.

‘Labor talk about a housing supply crisis, but this is a housing demand crisis, driven by unsustainable immigration. It’s that simple.’

A former SAS officer with aspirations to lead the Liberal Party, Hastie cautioned that the party faces becoming politically irrelevant unless it takes steps to curb immigration.

‘Action is required. The levels of Net Overseas Migration need to be reduced. Inaction could lead to widespread dissatisfaction and potentially spell the end of our political significance.’

Hastie’s remarks drew swift condemnation from Independent MP Allegra Spender, who called for respectful debate. 

‘The cohesion of our society matters,’ Spender said.

‘Falsehoods or sly innuendo in this debate can damage the country that we all hold dear, the diverse and vibrant multicultural Australia we must all work together to maintain.’

Spender, who represents the seat of Wentworth in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, rejected Hastie’s framing and drew a historical parallel to British MP Enoch Powell.

‘Yesterday Andrew Hastie used words that echoed those of English white nationalist Enoch Powell and his infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech,’ she said.

‘Powell told the 1968 Conservative Party conference that white British people found themselves “made strangers in their own country”. 

‘Andrew Hastie repeated very similar words yesterday in relation to migration numbers when he said ‘we’re starting to feel like strangers in our own home.

‘Is Hastie, who has said he wishes to lead the Liberal Party and the country, harking back to Enoch Powell because he is ignorant of history? Or is he using Powell’s words deliberately? I don’t know, but we must be very careful in this debate.’

Spender also reflected on her upbringing with her mother,  iconic Aussie fashion designer Carla Zampatti, who migrated from Italy to Australia in 1950.

‘Australia is a nation where half the population was either born overseas or had at least one parent born overseas.’

She cautioned against the normalisation of divisive rhetoric, citing the March for Australia rallies on August 31, where neo-Nazi group members delivered speeches and violent clashes erupted between demonstrators and counter-protesters in Melbourne. 

‘Already we’ve seen neo-Nazi organised anti-immigration rallies. Now disturbing echoes of the racist division of the past have crept into the political mainstream.’

‘Every time I go to a citizenship ceremony and there is a list of 30 or so countries that our new citizens are from, I feel more proud to be Australian, not less. We are a country which shows the world how people from many countries can live together in peace and harmony.’

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke also criticised Hastie on Wednesday. 

‘Modern Australia must be strange to a Liberal Party that stubbornly refuses to enter the 21st century,’ Mr Burke said.

He called for Hastie to present more details for an immigration plan, instead of just rhetoric.  

‘Net overseas migration is down more than 40 per cent. Mr Hastie’s conviction is cosplay unless he can name the specific visa classes he wants to slash.’

Hastie’s comments follow those of Senator Jacinta Nampinjimpa Price, who also called for a reduction to Australia’s migration numbers in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Brisbane last weekend.   

Andrew Hastie was contacted for comment.