There has never been a debate on immigration. Politicians just do as they please, and keep filling the country with unnecessary, unsuitable people. Half a million of them this year! Plus 650,000 foreign students. In contradiction to Australian's objections! Over a million people a year!

The neo-Communists are replacing the population with people more to their liking.

Gary Becker died in 2014 at the age of 84, so leave him out of it.

Fees? What, more money for the government, and more reason for them to drag more people in?

“Having paid the fee, the immigrants would be committed to their adopted country and keen to make a go of it.” Yeah. Father Christmas is real, and it snows in Oodnadatta.

And “bona fide refugees” fleeing across several other countries to impose themselves on us have nothing to do with deliberate, Big Australia mass immigration by politicians, who can take their Big Pensions somewhere nice like Switzerland when rooted Australia is choc-a-block.

As for deporting people unable to work: sure, the real rulers, the High Court, wouldn't interfere with that - much!

This is the biggest load of tosh ever to be written on immigration. Immigration just needs to be stopped, and Australians have to get off their backsides and demand that it is stopped.

Along with all these extra people being put upon us, Australia's unemployment is rising: up to 3.7% last month. Another 55,000 jobless in one month.

Australia is definitely a lunatic asylum, run by the lunatics.

I question whether we need more immigrants at all. Robots can pick fruit, run nursing homes etc. In a sense foreign student fees are a prepayment on intending permanent settlement. Mum and Dad pay those fees hoping to get family reunion down the track so that price is modest. $2m house prices in Sydney cut out the under achievers.

A month or two ago a Treasury official said Australia needed high migration to replace retiring baby boomers then provide them with care. Maybe but Japan seems to be coping. What happens when the baby boomers are gone? The present Anglo Celtic civility could be replaced by Arab vs Jew, Hindu vs Muslim and so on.

I broadly disagree! Those industries wanting migrant labour should be required to sponsor them. And for an employment contract of up to 10 years.

This is how a market system would operate and make the user pay full value for the worker, whose skills could be thoroughly transferred to local talent.

This would ensure migrants came as and when truly needed. And not to fulfil a highly flawed economic model.

The future will see factories rolling day and night with few human hands involved in the production process. Using highly energy dependant Automation.

Humans involved will be highly skilled technicians assisted by techbots and AI.

If we would do any of the above, we need to get the price of energy down! For mine that's either MSR thorium or MSR nuclear waste burners burn nuclear waste we are paid annual millions to accept! And a true market system as well!

Nuclear waste is mostly uranium, with a few nasty transuranics included. The latter can be separated and used to kick start MSR thorium. And convert it to fissile U233.TBC.
Alan B.

What Taswegian says!
Alan B.

"The government does not have an immigration policy." Here we go again - the old Abul Rizvi fib. The government DOES have a clear immigration and population policy, published every year, in Budget Paper 3.

Only problem, Albanese Labor overshot last year's immigration target by a massive 130% (265,000). Bad luck for voters, eh? Tough break, for renters and the homeless. But great news for party donors.

Also, David, we already have a $5 million visa, for "Significant Investors". Put 'em all on that rate, I'd say. Anything would be better than the ideological madness of Albanese Labor. Which you don't even seem to see.