Scott Morrison's proposal to cut immigration is "not the answer" to southeast Queenslanders' concerns about population growth, experts say.
Rather, better planning is.
The prime minister has appealed to voters frustrated with road congestion and fuller schools, hospitals and public transport with a "fair dinkum process" to cut the national permanent migration intake by 30,000 places annually.
The policy, Mr Morrison said, would target Sydney, Melbourne and southeast Queensland, where 75 per cent of migrants end up, amid predictions this week burgeoning Brisbane could reach three million people by 2027.
But the federal government has been warned of the risks of tinkering with migration levels in a state with one of the worst performing economies in the country.
"Immigration policy is not the answer to infrastructure shortfalls. Only infrastructure delivery will address these shortfalls," Kirsty Chessher-Brown of the Urban Development Institute of Australia's Queensland branch told AAP.
"The current levels are critical to the state's economy and are a key strategy in supporting growth and jobs for Queensland."
The Palaszczuk government has accused the Commonwealth of using the issue "to score cheap political points", calling for a meeting with Immigration Minister David Coleman, who said this week slashing migration made "absolute sense".
Doing so would have no major benefit for southeast Queensland, according to UQ demographer Elin Charles-Edwards.
"We've had more balanced population growth (than other areas). Internal migration and natural increase have been major components," Dr Charles-Edwards said.
"A reduction in migration might reduce growth slightly, but I don't think a change of the order the prime minister is suggesting would have much of a measurable impact on the ground in SEQ."
The property industry has been among the swiftest to criticise Mr Morrison's proposal.
"The history of southeast Queensland has been one where population growth is something we've been able to adapt to," said Chris Mountford, Queensland head of the Property Council of Australia.
"The issue is not what the population is, it's whether the planning and infrastructure is keeping pace."
