Turn Right then left, my grandma used to say to me 25 years ago when I would not eat all my tea that there are people in Africa who would be glad to eat this meal. I probably will be telling my own grandkids the same in another 25 years.

Promoters of mass immmigration use the fear of 'damage' to the economy if immigration ceased to underpin their arguments then berate anyone who disagrees as fearful of the unknown and different. The truth is we choose to allow ourselves to become dependant on immigration and we can choose not to. The most succesfull societies are largely and/or were formerly homogenous ethnically speaking. The least successful are often the most diverse, in direct opposition to the socialist utopia!

People behave differently as individuals as opposed to a collective group consciousness.When groups are allowed to isolate themselves and not learn the mainstream native tongue then real divisions in society appear causing friction and often violence.

Language and communication is the secret to all social and economic success.We have allowed the concept of multi-culturalism to reach the point of absurd isolationism whereby cultures who seek to escape the chaos and violence of their home countries are ignored under the banner of political correctness,accusations of racism,while they freely practise their own predjudices in the name of tolerance.

The lunatic left have a lot to answer for.All cultures are not equal in every respect.Immigration is a complex mix,however new arrivals must learn to respect the existing dominant culture that provides such prosperity.They need to appreciate our societies strengths before seeking to destroy it's foundations.

No society is perfect and change must always be evolutionary that respects the will and beliefs of the majority.Anachists can just get nicked!

Davo, Arjay - couple of points:

-The US is the most diverse nation in history. It may well have problems, but it would be churlish to deny it has been successful.

-I can acknowledge there are problems that need to be addressed with immigration, I truly can. But there is a difference between analysing these issues then coming up with practical ideas, compared to saying "immigrants are bad and the bane of our society."

For example: A minimum level of english to be learned by immigrants = not a bad idea. Considering that some cultures may clash with Australian society = reasonable I suppose.

Blaming immigrants for society's ills = a cheap election tactic. All of us except aboriginals are at least a product of immigration by descent.

Besides. Our birth rate isn't all that crash hot.

And Arjay - it's all very well to use statements like 'lunatic left' but I can just as easily go with 'rabid right.'

Either way... it doesn't really do a whole lot for debate except denigrate the other side in general.

Fresh thinking?

I have heard people say that England is a lost cause. Now I understand why. Philippe's "logic" is exactly what is destroying England - it sounds like a cultural vacuum. Sure glad I'm not there to witness the ensuing power struggle.

Salmon Rushdie knows who will fill the cultural vacuum:

"Why we're all living under a fatwa now:
What I fear most is that, when we look back in 25 years' time at this moment, what we will have seen is the surrender of the West, without a shot being fired. They'll say that in the name of tolerance and acceptance, we tied our own hands and slit our own throats."

England's intelligence agencies can't keep up with the home-grown terrorist threats as it is. Enjoy the fatwa Philippe.

Folks, folks, it's all a numbers game. No one is concerned by the Greek who runs the fish shop or the Chinese take away on the corner or the Jewish pawn broker in the main street. Everyone loves them and rightly so for the cultural diversity each one brings to our lucky conntry. After two generations they all turn into Australians anyway and we get to keep the food.

However, anyone would get pretty twitchy when we are now getting 12,000 Vietnamese, Americans, Mexicans, Albanians, Serbs, Somalian's or any other group in the next suburb!

We know why this is happening. So the false economy of the building industry can keep building crap housing spreading west for which these poor people sign up for life and which is infinitely better than what they left behind in their home country.

Wake up Australia. The only people benifiting from this rediculous increase in immigration is the leaches feeding off the system. Sweat shop owners, immigration lawyers, and the cheap housing sector. The rest of the society is left to carry the social can for all the agravation festering in these knots of displaced and essentially unhappy people.

What about a one-out-one-in policy. This would maintain cultural diversity without increasing the population. Preferably two-out-one-in till we get to a population our overstreached resources can manage.

How would Leigh explain the million or so expatriots who live permanently over seas? Do we assume as failures they migrated

- we could start with Clive James, Robert Hughes for example - throw Rolf Harris into the mix - who knows even Peter Singer may never come back either - and then there is Peter Carey, the Booker prize winner - and resident of New York - I guess they all fled these shores in the vain hope they could make a better life for themselves in the New World - I mean look at Rupert Murdoch - he was never gonna make it over here

- he had to immigrate to make a go of it