http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/panic-on-the-house-floor-20120601-1zn4x.html
I found the link a good read.
I too found it is about my own opinion.
Take Gina out of it,her dads once attitude to Labor,even us wise men from the east.
Look at the national interests,and the reason CONSTRUCTION,needs imported workers, not enought time or workers.
Look at the end results,,over six thousand jobs for Australia.
I give credence to that part of the link.
Second? who of us not blinded by one sided biased views would not be pleased to have others lead both party's.
And those,such as me, who know who they will vote for, but unlike me fail to see the faults on their leadership team?
With such attitudes we can not progress,we may, hopefully not, be forever cursed by our own wish for victory only,to be lead by the wrong folk.

<< Our current account is still running at a deficit of around 3%, despite record minerals prices. >>

Yabby, you paint an utterly dismal picture of Australia being hooked into maximised expansionism with no way of getting out of it.

What on earth is going on here??

How can this be? We have absolutely massive mining activity and hence export income, and we are still racking up the debt.

So if we were to expand mining operations as far as we could we be able to turn the tables and start paying off the debt at a considerable rate?

How does our record-high immigration rate factor into this?

How would higher taxes / levies / royalties help?

I will maintain that the size and rate of increase in the domestic demand for all manner of goods and services has got everything to do with our national account balance and that quite apart from environmental and sustainability reasons, it is simply insane for this level of immigration to continue.

If expansion of the mining industry, or of any economic sector, requires large-scale foreign labour, then it becomes just self-defeating!

So in order for us to balance the budget, we might need a big increase in mining activity for a while. But not isolation. We need to stop increasing demand, we need a better return from our primary resources and we need a much better overall fiscal management regime.

*What on earth is going on here??*

Ludwig, our economy simply reflects the reality of how we live.
We are the world's biggest gamblers who live in the world's biggest
houses, paying ourselves some of the world's highest wages, on the
world's cushiest benefits. So Australians are living it up,
travelling more then ever before, mostly bankrolled by globally
efficient mining and farming sectors. Sydney and Melbourne largely
exist to administer themselves and build more houses for ever more
migrants. Meantime farming and mining are bled, as they don't have
the votes, cities do as they have the numbers.

So now Aussies don't even want to work in those far away industries
and if no goose is laying golden eggs, or not enough of them,
city Australia is basically stuffed.

The mining projects now being built, will ensure the flow of money
to keep the good times rolling, so that we can keep wasting money
as we have in the past.Billions for foreign aid, billions for social
welfare, billions for boat people, billions for administration and
paying our public servants up to 800 Grand and all the rest. Where
did you think that all this money came from?

Ok Yabby, but in supporting EMAs and the large-scale expansion of mining, aren’t you just condoning all of this highly irresponsible behaviour?

Wouldn’t be a much better idea to say no to any further mining expansion, given the level of mining activity that we now have, and start seriously lobbying for some of the other factors to be improved?

Obviously I think that our immigration intake is the biggest single factor, and the easiest one to address, but as you say, there are numerous other things.

Now, if we were to get all of these factors in order, or considerably improved, I might be able to condone an expansion in mining activity, because it would then actually create real wealth, that could pay off our debts, lead to real improvements in infrastructure and services and set us up with a sustainable society.

<< The mining projects now being built, will ensure the flow of money to keep the good times rolling, so that we can keep wasting money… >>

Yes!! It is crazy beyond belief to just be blithely facilitating the same old continuous-expansionist and enormously fiscally inefficient paradigm!

We are GROSSLY misusing our amazing mineral wealth! Really, we are rushing faster and faster towards the cliff!!

While it may be politically untenable for us change this in any significant manner, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be trying. Good intelligent knowledgeable people like you should not just be going along with it or advocating things that will support this paradigm.

*Wouldn’t be a much better idea to say no to any further mining expansion, given the level of mining activity that we now have, and start seriously lobbying for some of the other factors to be improved?*

Oh lobby by all means Ludwig, but I am realist enough to doubt your
chances. When the Canberra fatcats agree that 400 Grand a year is
still a good salary, when the rest of Australia agrees that they
should moderate their lifestyle, I will take note.

I just happen to live in a place where I cannot even get to see
an Australian doctor, as its more important to divert resources to
other areas, like cities. So any crunch will be felt by us
people first, the fatcats will be last to change their ways.

Ignoring population issues for a moment Ludwig, there is an essential contradiction in your assessment of the country's financial situation.

>>We are GROSSLY misusing our amazing mineral wealth!<<

And the point about that "amazing mineral wealth" is that it has precisely no value whatsoever while it remains in the ground. It might as well not exist at all, if we don't dig it up.

And because we do not have a lazy $200 billion or so lying around that is needed to perform this feat, we need to... <gasp> Borrow It. Or share the equity around with... <shudder> Foreign Investment.

It is ok for you. So long as there are flowers to pick, you'll be fine. But think about the rest of us - particularly us do-nothing layabouts in the Eastern States (that was for Yabby) - who kinda like the lifestyle we have, and would prefer not to go back to subsistence farming to stay alive.