ABSTRACT

This essay considers the post-COVID-19 debates over the level of migration to Australia to understand how the rhetoric of ‘affective congestion’ which is used for population management has changed. On the one hand, it demonstrates that the concerns of white bodies regarding congestion are taken more seriously by the political and media mainstream than those of new migrants. On the other, it shows that COVID-19 is bringing the injustice of this approach to light, as seen in the case of the harsh lockdown imposed on public housing estates in Melbourne. Finally, it argues for population density planning that uses the ‘mobility justice’ framework and makes a case for developing affective capacities in addition to building infrastructure.

摘要

本文考虑了COVID-19后关于向澳大利亚移民水平的辩论，以了解用于人口管理的“情感性拥挤”的措辞是如何改变的。一方面，它表明，政治和主流媒体比新移民更加重视白人对拥堵的关注。另一方面，这表明COVID-19暴露了这种方法的不公正之处，如对墨尔本公共住房实施的严厉封锁所证明的那样。最后，它主张使用“流动正义”框架进行人口密度规划，并为建立基础设施以外的情感能力提供依据。