If it wasn't for immigration, Australia would be in recession. GDP per capita has been negative for a while, meaning Australia has been in recession for quite a while. Immigration/population growth has been propping up the headline GDP figure.
In terms of inflationary pressures, a number of these cannot be controlled as they are international (oil prices etc). Housing costs, on the other hand, are a sign of government incompetence as is rent increases (through not enough builds), with both also negatively influenced by immigration as well. But even without immigration, they would have gone up given lack of housing stock and poor planning in opening up new land for housing. And then we have the green cafe latte set living in nice areas in the city who don't believe in urban infill, and then picket land developments in new areas through sprouting environmental and cultural heritage concerns (all whilst supporting immigration increase).
