Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has refused to put a number on the government’s ideal immigration intake for Australia, saying the more important thing was to balance housing supply with the needs of the country’s workforce and economy as the Coalition ratchets up political debate about overseas arrivals.

Burke acknowledged the Australian community was “deeply feeling the housing shortage” but lashed the opposition for taking a fact-free approach to public debate, with its calls to cut overall immigration numbers without saying where in the visa system they should come from.

“I am very conscious that an argument about immigration can be had in a civil way,” Burke told the National Press Club in an address about his approach to the home affairs portfolio on Thursday. “But to have the

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