Rhian,

As I also pointed out, the asylum seeker numbers did become significantly large in Europe. See Christopher Caldwell's "Reflections on the Revolution in Europe" or just my previous link to the very large number of claims in the UK between 1997 and 2004, which also led to the admission of additional very large numbers of dependants. Where is your evidence that it couldn't happen here as well? Do we need to wait until there is a really serious problem before taking any action, even if we can easily foresee the potential for trouble? I don't have a problem with taking several thousand refugees a year, just with having them self-select. Why would I need a fig leaf?

Numbers of legal immigrants in the regular immigration program (with about half, and possibly more, of 457 visa holders going on to permanent residence) are large enough to have an effect on the environment, as we would soon stabilize our population without net immigration. At the current rate, we will be doubling in numbers every 43 years.