Melbourne MP Kelvin Thomson said he was setting up Victoria First “to safeguard and enhance Victoria’s way of life”.

Mr Thomson, who was parliamentary secretary for trade in the previous Labor government, wants immigration to be slashed on environmental and urban amenity grounds.

Following Labor’s election loss in September, he attacked the party’s poor political management and said the trend “to leave everything to a messiah leads to poor decisions”.

Mr Thomson, the MHR for Wills in the city’s inner north, opted to return to the backbench in Opposition so he would not be gagged for speaking his mind.

Victoria First, to be officially launched next month, is a not-for-profit NGO.

“It will fight to halt rapid population growth, overdevelopment, reduce traffic congestion, stop the increasing cost of council rates … and seek to protect Victoria’s unique animals and plants,” said Mr Thomson’s flyer.

Among the group’s policies is net annual migration to be cut from 190,000 to 70,000 and a halt to ­Melbourne’s population growth.

“To safeguard Victoria’s way of life, its backyards, its open spaces, its room to move, room to breathe, room to live,” said a policy document.

Mary Drost, from residents’ lobby Planning Backlash, said she would attend the inaugural meeting on December 1 but is yet to commit to the group.

“More and more people are realising that our problem is too many people, we are running out of space for everything,” she said.

But Migration Council Australia CEO Carla Wilshire said a sudden cut to our migration would cripple the economy.

“Our migration program is designed to serve our national interests. It is a planned program that is carefully managed to address our ageing population and our skills shortages,” she said.

“I think we should be championing migration as one of Australia’s greatest assets.”

john.masanauskas@news.com.au