Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced his intention to cut the number of migrants entering Australia to ease city congestion. 

If the changes are applied, this will lower the current annual immigration cap of 190,000. 

“The roads are clogged, the buses and trains are full. The schools are taking no more enrolments. I hear what you are saying. I hear you loud and clear,” Mr Morrison said in a speech on Monday. 

“Population growth has played a key role in our economic success. But I know Australians in our biggest cities are concerned about population,” Mr Morrison said. “They are saying: enough, enough, enough”. 

Australia has already experienced lower migration intake levels, well below 190,000. 

Between 2017-18, the intake level was at its lowest level in a decade, with only 163,000 permanent arrivals of skilled and family visas.

“We’re running 30,000 below where it has been and it wouldn’t surprise me if any process we went through would arrive in that sort of territory,” Mr Morrison said. 

“The old model of a single, national number determined by Canberra is no longer fit for purpose,” Mr Morrison said. “The states and territories know better than any what the population carrying capacity is for their existing and planned infrastructure and services. So I plan to ask them, before we set our annual caps”. 

If the lower cap is confirmed, this would take affect from the next financial year in July 2019.