On the note of our hugging of the coast, I'm going to make a very wild assumption by declaring my doubts that a particularly high proportion of Australians actually visit a coastal place (ie a beachside area) on even a once-yearly basis- despite their proximity.

I think what might attract most people is inviting, high-level infrastructure and public spaces- lakeside parks, casinos, nightclubs and shopping centers with extensive ranges and places to eat- as long as the environment is comfortable and exciting, nobody would care if its by the sea or in the middle of the Simpson Desert.

If Dubai can do it to attract people all the way from Europe, America and East Asia, surely we can manage at least do the same for people already here (both present and future)?

I read Cheryl's comment with some sadness. Jane O'Sullivan is a member of Sustainable Population Australia. She is also an agricultural scientist who has devoted her life to feeding the hungry.

If you are concerned about the fact that modern agriculture depends on massive consumption of cheap fossil fuel - for fertilizer, biocides, harvesting, processing, transport and distribution, if you are outraged by the fact that already 800 million people are chronically and severely malnourished, if you value biodiversity and wilderness, and believe that other species besides homo sapiens have a right to live on this planet, then yes, visit the Sustainable Population Australia website - and please join.

But you have to admit that this population issue has become a marriage of convenience between the greenies on one hand and the racists on the other. The racists have markedly toned down their language and are now using environment, population, education and other concerns as tools by which to exclude people of other races.

The environmentalist don't seem to realise that this is a serious problem. We can't support you until something is done about it.

Now we have another idiot with a straw man argument.

David

The only two people on this forum I would regard as racist are Cheryl and David Jennings- rednecking away as hard as they can go (thank you Forrest Gumpp for a most useful term)and absorbed in imagining racism in others in much the same way as some churches are unable to get their minds out of other people's groins. I have yet to hear anyone who advocates a cut in immigration numbers include refugees in that cut, indeed many advocate an increase in our refugee intake. These are the ones Cheryl describes by the colour of their skin, the 'yellow' and 'brown' people. The issue with a sustainable population has nothing to do with race: within a very short time anyone of any race who lives here adopts the Australian high energy footprint.

Thats as tasteless as it is tactless Candide.
What did they actually say that was racist?