It is an alarming scenario: in the absence of big ongoing spending on infrastructure, Australian cities will become so choked with people the cost of congestion will double to almost $40 billion in just 12 years. The culprit for this huge loss of productivity, according to a 2019 report by Infrastructure Australia, is population growth. Alan Tudge, the Federal Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure, sought to hose down these concerns by claiming the Government had lowered overseas migration to ease the pressure. "Since this report was written, we've dropped the migration rate to ease the population pressure, particularly on Melbourne and Sydney, which have just been growing like gangbusters," he said. The comment reflected a Liberal Party policy document released in the lead up to the 2019 election, which promised the Coalition would "freeze immigration levels" at an annual intake of 160,000 over the next four years. This would help "ease the pressure on the big capitals". Whether or not the migration rate is being "dropped", as opposed to "frozen", the federal government is keen to get the message out that it is working to ease the strain on our overburdened cities by slowing Australia's annual intake.