The Australian Government is obsessed with increasing immigration (“Migration plan to ease skills crisis”, The Age, 20/3; “Record migration but more needed”, 21/3). I have doubts about the so-called “skills shortage” that is given as a reason for this; it seems more that employers want cheap labor:
The 457 visas have been controversial, with Labor claiming in opposition that unscrupulous employers were using foreign workers to undercut local wages. Unions also claim that temporary skilled migration is a form of indentured servitude, which is used to keep a lid on wages. […]
Meanwhile, Australia’s population is growing at its fastest rate in almost 20 years, with imports of skilled workers lifting net migration to a record 179 122 people in the year to September, and population growing by 318 500 to 21 097 148. But the arrival of new workers has exacerbated the housing shortage.
So, reduce population growth – restrict immigration – and the housing shortage won’t be so acute! The obvious solution that governments don’t want to see. I am so sick of this idiocy; increasing overpopulation is eroding the liveability of this city.
South Australia’s Premier has pledged that “the state will not run out of water” despite its ongoing drought and allocation from the Murray River at a mere 10%. So where is this extra water going to magically come from? There are plans for a desalination plant (as there is in Melbourne), but it is years away, and won’t address the problem of living sustainably. The self-delusion of politicians is dismaying.
