By Kat Wong

False claims about “out-of-control” immigration have been disputed by experts as police brace for protests and counter-rallies in Australia’s biggest cities.

Tourism and travel data were misused by neo-Nazis and white supremacists to increase participation at nationwide anti-immigration rallies in August, a report from Australian National University has found.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ permanent and long-term movement data records trips in and out of the country and classifies them by their duration, the legal status of the person making the move and other measures.

But this is not a valid measure of migration, report co-authors Emeritus Professor Peter McDonald and ANU Migration Hub director Alan Gamlen said.

“(The) data set has been used consistently by anti-immigration activists and political outfits regularly, to give an inflated sense of the numbers and say that immigration to Australia is out of control,” Professor Gamlen told AAP.

“But it captures all sorts of people who are not in any way shape or form migrants.”

The data was misused so often that the ABS issued a warning in August, saying it does not measure migration and is mostly used to understand traveller movements.

Australians have instead been urged to use the bureau’s net overseas migration figures, the number of migrants arriving in Australia minus the number who leave.

While this figure rose after a pandemic-fuelled low, it has been falling sharply since September 2023.

“Saying immigration is out of control when that is not the case is divisive and potentially damaging to social cohesion,” Prof Gamlen said.

“People who are speaking in the public sphere about this owe it to the Australian people to give them the facts so they can make the decisions about the things that are important to them.

“They can’t do that if they’re given wrong, fearmongering information.”

Anti-immigration rallies organised by anti-vaccine protester Monica Smith are set to be held in Sydney and Melbourne over the weekend.

Far-right British figure Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, will speak at the event via video-link.

He has previously been banned from various social media platforms for violating rules on hateful conduct and hate speech.

In the past, the federal government has denied visas to international far-right figures including Gavin McInnes, who was due to tour Australia with Robinson in 2019.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has warned there will be a significant police presence around the Sydney CBD on Saturday.

“NSW is a strong, multicultural society – we will not tolerate hate on our streets,” she said.

A counter-protest is also set to take place to try hit back against anti-immigrant sentiment.

“It is going to take community mobilisations to say ‘migrants are welcome, and to get the Nazis and the racists off our streets,” Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said.

Victorian police are setting up designated areas in Melbourne and increasing their operations ahead of an anti-immigration protest on Sunday.

News all day, every day at CityNews.com.au.