Thanks Andrew, for the article and for joining the forum.

You do get the impression that a lot of people are worried until you look at the number of posters, rather than the number of posts. At the same time the white worrier is a well researched element in Australian society. The theory goes that as globalising processes progress, parochial types find themselves increasingly out of the loop and get upset. I don't think it's as simple as that when more worldly people also worry about issues like these.

Regardless of the issues raised here (culture clashes and scarce resources seem to be the main ones) it does seem a bit undemocratic of our government to keep immigration rates high when so many people are uncomfortable with it. Especially when governments also support sociocultural divisions which agitate people's concerns.

Personally, I am comfortable with high immigration and multiculturalism. As others here have observed, it's ridiculous to expect migrants of any description to absorb Australian culture with their first breath off the plane. Or boat. The Bartlett argument suites me just fine, but I do believe it's unfair and asking for trouble to force change on people who, for whatever reason, feel uncomfortable. I'm not using the word 'comfortable' because of the 'relaxed and comfortable' slogan, but to avoid upsetting anyone.

The education issue is irrelevant here but I can't help myself. I come from a white Australian family (no idea how many generations past the three I met personally) with very little cash to throw around. I went to a selective high school with hundreds of other kids exactly like me. The selection process had to do with grades, not race. The promotion of downward envy was a political master stroke. I think it's ugly but admire the brilliance of it. Now if we can just rearrange a bit of funding to get Middle Eastern kids on the honour roll of selective and private schools...

Just love this geezer ...

"I never finished high school, I studied at night after work for the last 25 years and now enjoy the rewards. I am now working fulltime and completing a doctoral thesis. I have worked hard. Am I to be punished for that? "

The downright ingenuousness of bringing multiculturalism and individual rights into a debate on OVERPOPULATION is evident here. In overpopulated scenarios individual rights don't exist, only corruption and the corrupt will rule. People of all racial backgrounds, no matter how hard they worked or how much they feel they deserve will be just as physically vulnerable in an overcrowded city. Let's not be coy, only the capital cities will get the immigrants and for example the 100,000 extra immigrants in Sydney each year mean 100,000 more cars and 100,000 hectares of soils lost to salinity each year.
The kind of SELFISHNESS you display here is keenly noted by fair minded Australians. It is going to take some extraordinary branch stacking in the next state and federal elections to subvert the anger that is mounting in communities around the country.
People are WATCHING.

"Yes we face issues with resource scarcity, particularly oil and water, but they can be solved with vision and technology."

NO they cannot be solved. Your doctorate is obviously NOT in science. If you make clumsy assertions like this you must back them up. All you have shown here is you have a vested interest in overcrowded, market oriented cities where big business is the only real government. Once oil reaches $4 per litre in Australia, within the next 10 years, you will see Mad Max 2 scenarios develop. The last thing we want is more people to slug it out and protract the inevitable CULL. There is already market demand for a CULL. Kidneys from people over 60 can now fetch $20,000 each. And there is no guarantee that your aspirations as a captain of the ruling businesses will protect you any better than the rest of us

Response to Jolanda:

When you say "For Asians there are Selective Schools", that is a product of your imagination or someone’s deception. Selective schools are for bright and promising students and only a racist would connect intelligence with race. Only a racist could say "For Asians there are Selective Schools."

Racism is abhorrent to a free and democratic society. Your comments have no value. They are defective -- to be examined for the defect and then thrown out without hesitation. Anyone would do the same.

Response to Friedrich:

A Senator of the Australian Parliament should have to answer such racist questions. What role do they play? Answer: The same role as anyone else. Their racial background of course in no way has a part to play. In Australian society everyone is equal regardless of whether you are educated or not.

Your comment that the NSW government "lets the middle eastern trouble makers get away almost scot free. A few token arrests. Why? The gravy train" suffers from the racial defect also. That you would accuse the police of gross corruption, dereliction of duty and acceptance of bribes, because you label some arrests as "token", is an example of how racism can create the most hallucinogenic of states.

For the record, someone who speaks about migration levels is not racist. There are many respectable comments being made here.

Opps! A Senator of the Australian Parliament should *NOT* have to answer such racist questions.

David even though I agree with most of what you say, I must disagree with a couple of points.

We are not a free and democratic society. Andrew as well all federal politicians have been elected in defiance of the constitution.

Our constitution states, and the chief justice of the high court agrees, that all our federal politicians have been elected unconstitutionally and illegally. The Australian constitution states, that our parliamentary representatives are to be “directly chosen”. Yet we are forced to use a biased preferential vote, which makes those elected not directly chosen, but indirectly forced upon us.

Nothing will be done about this, as all challenges end up on the to hard list. Even a high court of 5 judges, have pushed this issue aside, because it would effect their friends, (read political parties). If you belong to a political party, you can't be directly chosen, because you have indirectly been forced onto the voters.

Its the same with multiculturalism and immigration, these are forced upon us, as was the GST and privatisation, they are not directly chosen policies of the people. So we live in a dictatorship, the dictators (political parties) defy our constitution. We will continue to go down the same ridiculous road, until we remove the present system and replace it with one that expresses the real will of the people. That can only be done by bringing elections and the running of the country into the 21st century.

All policies should be determined be electronic referendum. That way we will go in the direction the people want. Politicians should only be elected on the platforms they put up for various portfolios, not by core and non core lies.

You won't get that from any of them, but if if you had a party that was prepared to sacrifice their power to the people once elected, to achieve this, they would romp it in

Andrew, two posts a day and 350 word limits can be a pain. Cheer up though there are plenty of threads where your input as the leader of an Australian Political party would be interesting (The "Paying Women to have Children" is one I would really like to see the involvement of some politicians in). Two posts a day there and you still get one extra post elsewhere - bargain.

Now back to the thread. I'm one of those who enjoys "soft" multiculturalism but then I live in South East Queensland not southern Sydney. I also care a lot for our environment and the sustainability of our way of life. At some point we are going to have pain, either from too small a population to support those who don't work or by stretching our environment beyond it's ability to support us. I think that is almost a given, one is relatively short term, the other could be terminal.

I'd rather see the focus on improving what we are doing with the existing population, better management of water resources, more research into minimising the impacts of aging, ensuring that the kids growing up in this country are given the best possible chance to live happy productive lives (for a start radical reform of the disasterous family law system which encourages very bad outcomes).

On the migration front we could put some research into how to best play a meaningful role in helping the world while at the same time caring for this countries long term needs.

Looking forward to see your contribution on some other threads.

Cheers
R0bert