Hey Banjo, no that didn’t occur to me… the bit about being even further away for work. But if the immigrants can afford the houses closer to Sydney then that is just our hard luck.

I am not talking to my kids they have standard replies these days like “get offline”.

Walking kids to school with my trusty cricket wicket – that was back in Wellington with the Samoans… looks like Melbourne has the same problem and because I also am generous with my community I will be sending them a shipment of wickets immediately.

I thought you were on the East coast mainly because of the ocean and the ports and a huge lack of imagination after landing.[grin] But I asked before – is it lack of water or just not good water management?

I don’t see Aus as a life raft though, more like the QEII.

Save the Krill! (oh oops wrong thread)

Jewely,
Foxy's info made me realise how important krill are in the scheme of things.

I think you got the gist of my example of the lifeboat.

Maybe the early colonialists liked the beaches and surf, but most of the water falls on the coast and in the tropics. From time to time someone puts forward a scheme to put more water into 'the centre' but the economic viability seems to be the problem. These days the enviromentalists could probably stop it anyway. If you get the chance, go see the Snowy Scheme. it was our major project to turn the water west to provide irrigation and generate power. Quite amazing engineering and lots and lots of immigrants worked on that.

I note that no one on this thread has yet put forward reasons why we should take in more immigrants. The old post war adage of 'populate or perish' seems well and truely gone. These days it seems the only reason is to sell more consumer goods.

“Foxy's info made me realise how important krill are in the scheme of things.”

Now if I can make you realise how important humans are I’ll be happy.

“I think you got the gist of my example of the lifeboat.”

Yeah but I wasn’t going to admit it.

“Quite amazing engineering and lots and lots of immigrants worked on that.”

I will go read it, I’ll assume for now you are sending me to see something that worked though. So we can take water away from the discussion?

“I note that no one on this thread has yet put forward reasons why we should take in more immigrants. The old post war adage of 'populate or perish' seems well and truely gone.”

Okay forget war, think more in terms of people; beyond all the truly needy ones that really will be killed back at home for whatever reason.

Imagine a family, over from Mexico that came for a holiday in Oz and fell in love with the place. They decide they want to pack up and bring their 17 children to live in Australia. Why stop them? What would you say to Paedro and Conchita Banjo?

“These days it seems the only reason is to sell more consumer goods.”

Well they would have to feed and clothe their children and consuming is hard to avoid for most families. The fact that business benefit from it should make them happy but hey that’s all normal isn’t it?

Jewely,
No I don't want to take water away from the debate. Aus is the driest continent on earth so water is a major factor in whatever we do. Proper distribution is not the problem, it is the lack of rain and the cost of providing adequate water to meet the needs. I refered you to the Snowy Scheme so you can understand the enomous problems in meeting the water and power needs here. Another such scheme could not be built today because of enviromental matters, not engineering. One would have to be deaf and blind not to be aware of the continuing debate about the Murray-Darling basin and its problems, and it is our largest river system. You may not understand it but everyone is aware of the debate going on and have some udea of the importance.

If i were the benevolent dictator of Aus, I would say to Pedro and Conchita, "Sorry folks, we have a Zero Net Immigration policy in place and we have the quota for this year. Pedro I see you have skills we need but we do not feel it right to poach those with skills away from your country that needs the skills far more than we do. We will just have to make do until we train our own"

Sure people need consumer goods, but now the sale of these goods is the catalyst that drives the high immigration policy. The Fed Gov disregards any limitation, on social or enviromental grounds, and does not even have a population policy. They cannot say how many people we should have, and we let them get away with not saying.

As I said before, we really are stupid.

If i were the benevolent dictator of Aus, I would say to Pedro and Conchita, "Sorry folks, we have a Zero Net Immigration policy in place and we have the quota for this year. Pedro I see you have skills we need but we do not feel it right to poach those with skills away from your country that needs the skills far more than we do. We will just have to make do until we train our own"

Why Zero Net policy? Why not get rid of people, anyone who has been here too long like over 4 generations should get out now, their time is up.

Poor Pedro and Conchita, I think one of their kids was going to end up the most brilliant Prime Minister of Australia that it has ever had and she was going to sort all these problems.

“No I don't want to take water away from the debate. Aus is the driest continent on earth so water is a major factor in whatever we do.”

Bugger you Banjo, now I’m going to have to go read about water (you will have to give me a few days). But how many Englands could fit in to the Oz East Coast? Even if you take away the land mass of the dry sandy bits this land is huge.

My neighbour is stupid, swear to it in court. You’re not. Aussies aren’t (in general). I wish you would get rid of the whole state government thing though

Jewely,
Why Zero net immigration? Well we seem to be coping, barely, with the population we now have and lets keep it static for a while and then look at making adjustments if needed. The baby bonus should go.

I am sure you are aware we cannot deport citizens at all or even 'permanent residents' unless they commit a crime resulting in 2 years jail. But yeah, there are some Aussies I could cull.

On the water thing, you will probably find the Snowy Scheme more interesting than the current debate about the Murray-Darling basin, which is very complex and all sorts of different views and needs have to be considered. For the ordinary person,just to understand its importance in general terms is sufficient. Realise that an increased population would have a big effect on the water situation.

Yep it does seem ridiculous that we hve 3 tiers of government. State governments are sovreignties in their own right so they would be hard to get rid of. They would hang onto their power like leeches.