Tom Valcanis
Life-long politics tragic, digital marketer and writer. Articles in the Age/SMH, the Big Issue, the Spectator, and editor of alt lifestyle mag Hysteria from 2016–2020. An advocate for free speech, free markets, and small government.
The left: We need to regulate the internet because of dangerous misinformation.
Also the left: Here are endless reams of misinformation formatted for posts on your social media.
In the aftermath of the March for Australia, which is either a grassroots protest about migration policy or the biggest recreation of Triumph of the Will ever seen, Cheek Media posted a suite of social media tiles challenging the narrative that mass migration is even happening (and if it is, it’s a good thing.)
Founded in 2019 by activist and author Hannah Ferguson, Cheek Media “is redefining the way public discourse unfolds, delivering bold and progressive perspectives on subjects that capture the zeitgeist.” So lefty corporate chick BS that city-bound white-collar workers can post to their reels so they can appear virtuous. Of course.
In their view, the marches were “amplifying white supremacist messaging.” You can view all four tiles here.
If a libertarian had a dollar for every leftist who understood statistics and economics, we’d have exactly zero dollars.
The root of all problems to a libertarian is intrusive government – because it’s usually true.
The tile disputing that “immigrants are driving up house prices” is so inept, it’s incredible anyone with half a brain would swallow its assertions. It says, “over the past decade the number of dwellings has increased by 19 per cent while the population has increased by 16 per cent.”
But 19 per cent over… what? If we had 100 dwellings, then we’d have 119. If we had 150 population, then we’d have 174 population. There’s no basis for comparison. Yes, 16 is smaller than 19, but without any proportionality this statistic may as well be “a sleventeen thousand per cent increase over florpty-five zillion”.
In 2015 Australia’s population was 23.815 million, and now it is 26.958 million. That’s an increase of 3.142 million, or 13 per cent. Oh, awkward.
As for total completed dwelling units (houses and other stock) from all sectors dating from March 2015 to March 2025 (seasonally adjusted per quarter), that number is 1,978,096. Remember this number.
As for the tile talking about “Australia is experiencing an immigration surge,” and that net overseas migration levels hit an all-time high in 2023 at 536,000 and falling, it’s true. However, the ABS also shows that the Net Permanent and Long-Term Arrivals (NPLT) – arrivals from overseas origin who have never previously lived in Australia as well as citizens returning from over a year’s stay abroad – from six months to June 30, 2025, was 279,460.
Looking at research from the IPA through June 2022 to December 2024, NPLT arrivals stood at 1,007,600. That’s one million new and/or returning arrivals in 2½ years clamouring for 1.9 million new houses built over the course of a decade. Or, over that 2022–2024 period, we saw a mere 171,079 new residential units built. That’s almost one new house for every 10 arrivals. Housing approvals (not completed houses) were just 38 per cent relative to net arrivals. Not exactly comfortable living for the average 2.6 people per household occupancy rate.
Cheek also says that there are more job vacancies than unemployed people in Australia, which is complete bullshit. The ABS says there were 649,000 unemployed people (seasonally adjusted) in the July 2025 quarter and 339,400 job vacancies as of February 2025. Oh, and 301,900 of those vacant jobs were in the government sector. Funny, that.
Hey look! We still ain’t got that dollar, bub.
The root of all problems to a libertarian is intrusive government – because it’s usually true. Governments are addicted to the GDP ‘sugar hit’ of migration, they bind new housing approvals in red and green tape, and divert 12.5 per cent of our wages towards a retirement scheme we never sign up for, get taxed when we pay into it, taxed when we withdraw from it and, eventually, will get taxed when it sits there minding its own business.
If a libertarian had a dollar for every leftist who understood statistics and economics, we’d have exactly zero dollars.
Like fellow classical liberal Damien Coory of the excellent The Other Side show on YouTube says, we need to have a rational debate about immigration (and housing, and taxation). We need cooler heads talking lest agitation from extremists spills over into violence. Unlike their economic manifesto, the Labor party doesn’t like sharing power. If they had it their way, they’d bend reality to their will. There is no problem because we say there isn’t. Or else.
Philosopher and media theorist Jacques Ellul in his landmark Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, posits that propaganda seeks to “adapt an individual to a society, a living standard, to an activity.” That may be accepting a big government always has our best interests at heart, that a race to the bottom to find housing is normal, and leaving the house every weekend (after 12) to protest the progressive cause celebre of the week is as enjoyable as polite conversation about Real Housewives over $35 eggs Benedict.
The inevitable question is, who benefits from normalising managed decline like this?
We don’t even need an answer. Because we know who doesn’t – and that’s you and me.
This article was originally published by Liberty Itch.
