Despite 1m migrants in 2022-24, the Budget barely slackens the war on voters.

Entitled donors and stakeholders support this population rush. That's not surprising, of industry and developers. Regrettably, it also includes universities and unions, think tanks, even our rental/housing advocacies. State governments too, even though they shoulder the big costs of overpopulation.

Disenfranchised voters aren't so keen. No reliable post-COVID survey aligns them with Huge Australia, which eats away their living standards and shrinks housing affordability.

In the sixth voter survey from Australian Population Research Institute (TAPRI), nearly 50% of respondents wanted much lower (or nil) net-migration, well up from the previous survey. About 70% thought Australia didn't need more people.

Chief Migration Agent, aka Treasurer, disregards this plebeian sentiment.

As if suddenly discovering, how an irrational immigration blitz can fuel inflation and cost pressures, he cobbles together a "cost of living" Budget Speech and Overview.

His cost of living "relief" is tailored for soft media coverage. His gas cartel remains off-limits, instead, a rushed $300 energy rebate applies to all and sundry.

This Budget protects the 21^st century taxation and population policies that have institutionalised housing unaffordability. Treasurer seems to accept it as "normal", into the future, that essential workers and median families will really struggle to rent or buy.

While exhorting them, from his Treasury Building heights, go have more children.

With Australia's infrastructure-build scrambling to keep up, Labor's huge migration-shock makes housing construction uneconomic, renders housing targets unrealistic.

Instead of really slashing immigration, this Budget is tipping "billions more" into home-building. Another media-seeking band-aid. The "1.2 million homes over five years" remains a pipe dream.

In practice, Treasurer's GDP bottom-lines still lean on rapid population growth and rapid natural-resources depletion. Except, we're no Norway or Qatar. Too little of the earthly bounty is squirrelled away for national wealth and wellbeing.

As TAPRI underlines, the USA and certain EU nations exhibit strong parties or coalitions, to channel voter dismay at excessive immigration. That's not true of Australia. Labor, Liberal, Greens, and Teals, all back mass migration.