We are a "chronic outlier" on immigration. Australians don’t want mass immigration; it's the ALP and the Coalition who are addicted to Big Australia. There is no serious opposition to it. 17 million voters don't mean a damn.

The only people wanting to come here now - millions of them - are not English speakers. It's hard enough understanding poorly-educated young Australians these days. This doesn't matter to politicians and elites who have nothing to do with them.

The three most important words in this long piece are 'bypassing the electorate' which is what our political class is doing more and more these days.

ttbn you closed your comment with:
three most important words in this long piece are 'bypassing the electorate'

I think those days may be numbered for the big parties. I live in Kooyong and at the last federal election we chucked out the worlds best treasurer. A string of other electorates also gave the finger to a number of other high profile candidates.

I suspect that all the pollies are now on notice to attend to their electorates and pay attention to what we the electors may want. The days when they just pander to their key supporters and the loudest drum should now be over.

dkit

Agree with most of this. We cannot keep bringing people in when we can't even house those already here. As for skills we don't have? can be made good by guest labour. And half the salary withheld until they return home. And while here, transfer their specialist knowledge and skills to Ozzies.

Simply trying to grow the economy via unsustainable migration creates much more problems than it solves! Whereas creating and deploying cheap energy will grow the economy via energy dependent, automated. high-tech manufacturing And, create an energy super-power, via the transmission of the world's cheapest, cleanest, safest electrical energy.

Doable and affordable, if the new neo-liberals in power in Canberra just use the brains they were born with! And started to put Australia and Australians first!

If we need more workers, then change our regressive laws that keep able-bodied retires at home when real tax reform would allow them to return to the workforce along with their lifetime skill sets. And require business to take on and train more apprentices.

We changed the government to change ultra-stupid neo-liberal policies, not entrench them!
Alan B.

It is all very well to have aspirations to bring in multitudes of new migrants. The overloaded staff in DFAT are taking forever to process those who are in the pipeline now.
David

No comments about this from the faux greens. The unmandated march to
an overpopulated, environmentally depleted Australia is further reason to avoid voting for the major parties and avoid any preferences going to them.

This article is spot on. All the comments are also great, especially ttbn's "bypassing the electorate". This Jobs and Skills Summit reminds me of the show trials that they used to have in the old Soviet Union with a predetermined outcome, so that our politicians, who supposedly represent us, supposedly have a "consensus" to trash our our environment and quality of life, all to benefit themselves and their donors.

Watersnake is right. Put the big neoliberal parties last with their sitting members last of all, and the party that is in government last in the Senate.