But that's why Abbott was calling for a reduction to Howard era levels years ago - subsequent governments have gone further than Howard ever did.
What made sense during the Howard era economic boom doesn't necessarily make sense now.
Our current Labor government does actually does seem to realise they have a problem right now, and it's not entirely of their own making, but they've somehow managed to let in far more people than they actually planned which seems like sheer incompetence - apparently not to notice the numbers of visas they were issuing were triple their expectations for months on end.
They can’t administer their own programs, anymore. Not that they have any great desire to limit mass migration.
Canada is now going up by 1.5 million per year now. Almost all immigration, and “refugee” claimants.