Gillard and Abbott talk about restraining immigration and sound dinky di, but each is more representative of the changing nature of our population they would have us believe.
Whichever candidate takes office after the poll will be the first foreign-born Australian elected Prime Minister since at least John Gorton, and there's doubt about whether he was born in Melbourne or in Wellington, New Zealand. Read more »
During the election campaign, LP will be cross-posting selected items from the Centre for Policy Development’s discussion of policy issues, Thinking Points. Readers may also be interested in the CPD’s upcoming collection of policy ideas and priorities for the next term, More Than Luck.
Phil Lynch writes:
Of the myriad issues inadequately covered in the election campaign thus far, Australian values and identity — and the question of how these values shape the way we understand our role and responsibility in the world — rank high. In the leaders’ debate, for example, the only discussion of Australian foreign policy and our place in the world arose in the context of the “Timor Solution” and the war in Afghanistan. Read more »
Tony Abbott tied himself in knots trying to explain to Kerry O’Brien tonight why, if he chose to use 2008 as a baseline for his immigration cuts (which is misleading, as the intake is on the way down), the then level was acceptable given that it was a factor of Howard government policies.
The public no longer support immigration the way they did under the Howard Government. We’ve got to rebuild support for the immigration program, as happened under John Howard.
Oh really? Not if you believe a Morgan poll taken this month. Read why at Andrew Norton’s blog.
In tonight’s leaders’ debate, which centred almost totally on immigration, Julia Gillard reiterated her claim that dialogue was progressing with the Timorese government on the establishment of a regional processing centre for asylum seekers. That was before the debate descended into an unedifying discussion of domestic politics in Nauru.
The problem for the government is that this notion of dialogue is not shared by Dili:
Despite the Prime Minister’s repeated assertions of dialogue on the plan, Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa said discussions had yet to take place.
‘‘Discussion happens when we exchange views, but when only one side presents its views, and the other side is limited to listening, then I don’t call that a discussion,’’ he told The Sunday Age.
The Age reports that the manner in which Canberra has approached Dili has caused “dismay”: Read more »
Katharine Murphy reports at the Fairfax papers:
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is poised to unveil a significant cut in Australia’s annual migration intake as he tries to outflank Labor in the politically sensitive territory of boats and population.
Polling shows the community has now linked population pressures with boats and immigration more generally.
Mr Abbott faced a number of questions at his Perth press conference about his intentions. He replied: ”We will have an announcement in the next few days and you will know exactly where we stand. What you won’t get from us is the kind of fakery and fudging that you’ve had from the Prime Minister.
”She says she’s conscious of population pressures but she won’t do anything actually to reduce them,” Mr Abbott said. Read more »
Still some of the most sensible talk we've heard in years on Australian TV on asylum seekers and immigration. PJ O'Rourke on Q & A :
If only our politicians were willing to speak such obvious truths, in the face of tabloid hate front pages screaming 'Invasion!'
When Tony Abbott was giving a press conference yesterday, alongside his wife, at a child care centre at Kippa Ring in the Brisbane outer northside electorate of Petrie, he was asked if his support for benefits designed to encourage Australians to have more children was inconsistent with his desire for less population growth.
Bernard Keane explains:
Abbott also wandered into dangerous territory when he was asked to reconcile his sudden dislike of population pressure with his enthusiasm for higher fertility. He ended up taking a leaf from Julie Bishop’s book and quoting Paul Keating from 1969 to the effect that Australian babies were the best immigrants (what does that even mean anyway?) Read more »
Ever since the Penrith by-election, we’ve been hearing endlessly about Western Sydney as the epicentre of the Australian political nation. The population “debate” proclaims that we need to “pause” as outer suburban areas groan under population pressure and failing infrastructure. Immigration, and asylum seekers, are part of the picture, we’re told.
But how “full” is Western Sydney?
Over at Troppo, Don Arthur has taken an invaluable look at stats on population growth, and decline, across Sydney.
His conclusion? Contrary to the established narrative, trumpeted for years by Bob Carr, Sydney is not “full”. Things are a lot more complex than the political predicates for the policy debate would have us believe.
And it’s not surprising there’s plenty of room in Campbelltown. Between 2001 and 2006 , the population of the Campbelltown LGA fell by 2.1% — a net loss of 3,019 people. Read more »
It's Coalition policy:
If arguably meaningless. Net migration is sliding by the quarter.
REAL ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE POPULATION GROWTH
Australia needs a population that our services can satisfy, our infrastructure can support, our environment can sustain, our society can embrace, and our economy can employ.
Australia's population growth since World War II has helped create the prosperity we now enjoy. Successive waves of post-war migration have expanded our capacity as a nation. Read more »
I’ve been impressed, despite myself, with the effectiveness of the big parties’ efforts to blame the difficulties caused by their absolute failures in building and maintaining decent public infrastructure over the last few decades on immigration. Trains are crowded? Don’t blame our inability to expand the public transport network – blame those filthy immigrants! Unable to afford a house? Don’t blame the fact that we’ve flooded the market with investors by halving CGT and inflated the price with counterproductive grants – blame the diabolical Chinese! In absolute poverty because we won’t provide welfare even at a subsistence level? Look over there! A boat person getting food! It’s her fault!
Such an easy catch-all. So much less effort than actually building the necessary services and utilities on which we all rely and that will only get worse while the politicians can get away with deflecting the issue. Read more »
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