With the Election drawing closer, and Population
Sustainability, Migration and the "boat people"
becoming an important voter factor for both sides,
nobody has posed the question of how much of an extra
financial burden is being placed on the Taxpayers of
Australia, due to this localized influx "phenomena"?

The Taxpayers are already faced with massive direct
or indirect taxation to recoup and repay the current
National Deficit, ( whether we like it or not!) and
quite noticably both sides of the Parliament have been
ominously silent as to what direct measures will have
to be taken to avoid plunging this country into the
same financial abyss that so many other countries are
now finding themselves in?

We have to take a firm attitude in dealing with this
problem,....the days of an "open door" policy to all
and sundry are long gone and we must weigh up the cost
against the community of each and every newcomer to
this country, regardless of colour,creed or political
and religous leaning.

The UN have for too long told us what we must do, but
unfortunately for us they are not picking up the tab
for the ongoing cost of providing a "safe" haven for
all the Political ( and financial ) Asylum Seekers who
are invading our shores in ever increasing numbers.

Whilst these issues are continuing to occupy the pages
of the mainstream media, our roads, our hospitals, our
access to doctors and dentists is detereorating, whilst
at the same time our Politicians remunerations, lurks
and perks are increasing, along with all of their hollow
promises and spin-doctoring!

We need to heed Dick Smith`s advice and consider the
obvious folly of "overpopulation as balanced against
infrastucture" bearing in mind that the everyday
infrastructure that is NOT in place now, will most
probably never eventuate, due to increasing fiscal
restraints

Although I agree on limiting Australias population I do wonder how the rest of the world will view us for it. Selfish and greedy probably.
We need to not limit this debate to just our homeland and come up with ideas and policies that can help the whole world in its, what is by now obvious to all, population crisis. Refugees only come here when their own country becomes to terrible to live in. Many times at the hands of the west. We have no cause to act all superior and innocent
Population growth goes hand in hand with the endless economic growth touted by the capitalists and unless we stop both we will be doomed to destroy our planet and any semblance of civilisation.

Fair enough or is it enough is enough. The UN has really lost the plot over population. The world is massively over populated and that is the main contributor to the global ecological meltdown.
I have always seen this as reasonably simple bar one small point. You look at the ecology of your country, then you set you realistic carrying capacity. From there you define the infrastructure needed to sustain that population in a way that is not environmentally destructive but yet maintains a good quality of life, and finally you plan and develop your economy to fit this need not the other way around. Labour shortages are made up of foreign workers on work only visa's and no offer of residency. We could see this as part of our aid program putting real wealth into neighbouring economies where it is needed, on the street with the people as these workers take a good wage home to their families and communities.
The problem is how do you get people to stop having children. Yes i know not a big problem hear just stop immigration but what of a country such as India? China are heavily criticised for their one child policy.
We seem to think it is our right to overpopulate and destroy the ecology that belongs to all flora and forna on this planet equally. With some luck we will begin to wake up soon and realise the arrogant way we treat this place will be our extinction. The explosion of population world wide has really exploded with medicine. We live longer with less infant and child deaths due to disease. But with the miracles medicine has brought us their are responsibilities that we have ignored, population control is the most important of these.

mikk: The only way to stop endless economic
growth (inflation) is to introduce a Wage and
Price Control Bill,....but unfortunately none
of our Politicians have the intestinal
fortitude to venture down that path, purely
for their own selfish reason of having their
own outlandish income streams curtailed!

mikk makes a solid point about the issue being a global one which has to bring in all those other factors of economic equity and welfare safety nets.

What is most annoying in Australia is that the push for big populations does not come with new hospitals, better roads, rail, public transport, congestion/pollution, forestry/water management issues, and up until recently, training and planning for skill shortages.

The furphy about growing to service an ageing population is laughable when all we are achieving with growth is a future problem with another group of ageing Australians. Better to see the baby boomer retirement phenomenon through without scapegoating a whole sector of the population for being born after a post-war boom when the real motives are economic interests.

What about the post-WW2 immigration boom that created the baby boom in the first place? It wasn't just young Australian couples making up for the war years, many of the male youth of Australia were dead or crippled, as happened in WW1.

Typically, government also argued that later large swells in immigration numbers were needed to build housing for an increasing population. However the increasing population was being immigration driven - chicken and egg.

It always was about 'growth' and 'development', just as the attitude to Australia's resources was to ruthlessly 'exploit', not conserve or manage. Explains why there are large holes left in the ground with discarded machinery and poisonous waste heaps around the country.