Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tried to start the COAG meeting on the right note, announcing an extra $1.25 billion in health funding to state and territory leaders as they gathered for the meeting in Adelaide.
But the main item for discussion for the nation's leaders this time around was always going to be migration levels.
Mr Morrison had recently raised the idea of reducing the nation's immigration levels.
Any aims he has towards that suffered a blow, perhaps, when his own adviser, Australian National University demographer Peter McDonald, told the meeting migration levels should stay where they are.
Professor McDonald said, instead of cutting them, infrastructure needs to be stepped up.
Mr Morrison says he has not committed himself to an answer yet but that a recent speech in Sydney offers a good indication.
Australia currently is taking in around 160,000 migrants a year.
That number is, as the Prime Minister indicated, below the limit, currently 190,000.
At the COAG meeting, the leaders have agreed to work towards establishing a national framework at managing Australia's population growth.
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