That's a key take-out from the Turnbull Government's long-awaited briefing paper on immigration that was made public this week.

The document, which appears to come out strongly in favour of maintaining the current 190,000 migration cap or even increasing it, is a timely reminder this debate, which dates back to the earliest days of European settlement, is much more nuanced than it appears.

Politicians such as Hanson and Abbott and former politicians such as Mark Latham and former Liberal MP, Ross Cameron, who have all publicly called for immigration to be slashed, are engaging in a suspect and self-serving form of populism.

It doesn't help when a respected former business leader, Dick Smith, weighs into the debate with the absurd claim "all our problems are from this unbelievable population increase".

Mr Smith joined Mr Latham and Mr Cameron in calling for a "sustainable population", to be achieved by slashing immigrant numbers, in February last year.

He blamed Sydney's then record housing prices on the arrival of "five jumbo loads" of immigrants a week into the country while conveniently overlooking the fact 90,000 Australians move abroad every year.

"You can't drive in Sydney at the moment; the housing prices are enormous," Mr Smith said.

It is interesting to note that even though immigration numbers have not changed, property prices in Sydney and Melbourne have started to come back to earth in the last 12 months.

While populist anti-immigration claims are always going to play well in the western suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, where both sides of politics are keen to snatch marginal seats from each other, they are at odds with reality.

The vast majority of the 190,000 places Australia offers annually are for skilled immigrants. They target well educated people in the prime of their working lives who can, and usually do, make a positive economic contribution to the country within a short period of getting off the plane.

This week's briefing paper supported earlier studies by the Migration Council of Australia indicating that by 2050 migration will have added 21.9 per cent to the real wages of low skilled workers in this country and will be contributing $1.6 trillion to Australia's gross domestic product.

Commissioned by Treasury Secretary, John Fraser, and Home Affairs Secretary, Mike Pezzullo, the document said migrants boosted the economy by up to one per cent a year and that those who had arrived since 1996 had performed better in the workforce than the native-born.

That said, large scale migration will only be sustainable in the long term if it is integrated into a well thought out program of national development.

Key elements include ensuring sufficient land is being released for housing and that infrastructure is maintained and extended to ensure that our cities are livable, easy to get around in and well-equipped with schools, hospitals and other services.

It's not that we have too many people; it's that we haven't yet built the Australia of the future - and that takes people.