How many migrants come to Australia each year?

Attitudes towards a more generous refugee resettlement program are influenced by beliefs about how many migrants arrive each year. But making the calculation isn’t straightforward. Towards the end of ABC TV's special 'Sovereign Borders' edition of Q&A came an intriguing but frustrating back-and-forth about the number of migrants Australia welcomes each year. The key protagonists were Shen Narayanasamy, GetUp!'s human rights campaign director, and retired general Jim Molan, co-author of the Coalition's refugee and asylum policy and Tony Abbott's former special envoy for Operation Sovereign Borders. As the transcript reveals, the two speakers offered up very different numbers for Australia's annual migration intake.