Dear All,

Wouldn't it be nice to see Pauline Hanson become Member of Parliament for Oxley again?

Then she could go back to being an oxleymoron.

Dear Shadow Minister,

It is not surprising that Pauline Hanson approves of
the Labor's stand against the 457 visas. After all
she's for jobs for Aussies. However to state that
Pauline joins forces with the PM is a bit of a stretch,
especially when all news reports tell us that the PM
is distancing herself from Ms Hanson. Ms Hanson may have
delusions of adequacy - but the PM certainly doesn't
want to be associated with her.

What I do find rather disturbing and hypocritical -
is why doesn't
the Coalition and Mr Abbott support the PM in this.
After all the Coalition supposedly is for jobs for
Australians - so why are they now opposed to this?
Is it because this would mean deny cheap labour for the
corporations?

I wouldn't want to exclude all temporary or permanent migrants, as there are rare skills, and some real educational and cultural benefits to having some immigration. Nevertheless, I question the huge numbers that our politicians are inflicting on us, especially since our real unemployment rate is 10%, on top of an 8% underemployment rate (according to Roy Morgan Research). It beggars belief that people would prefer living on $35 a day on Newstart to taking a job.

We know that our population growth rate, due mostly to immigration, has a lot of negative consequences: more crowding and congestion, skyrocketing housing costs and utility bills, overstretched and crumbling infrastructure and public services, more pressure on the environment, and problems with ethnic tensions in some places. To be governing in the nation's interest and not just that of the corporate elite and immigration industry, the politicians would need to show large economic benefits to outweigh those negatives.

This graph from Macrobusiness shows our real GDP and real GDP per capita since 1996. Note that total GDP and GDP per capita stopped going up together in 1998 and that GDP per capita has been stagnant since the end of 2006, despite the mining boom. In other words, all economic growth since then is just due to having more people, not because the average existing resident is better off.

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012/05/highrise-harry-wants-more-people/

The real situation may be worse because the population growth promotes inequality and GDP includes defensive spending, a desalination plant because you have outgrown your natural water supply, for example.

If 457s and the like are as wonderful as some of you are saying, why aren't we getting richer?

Dear Divergence,

The 457s have nothing to do with what you, I, government, or the nation wants.

It's all about what business wants: A plentiful supply of cheap labour.

And when the economy goes flat, it becomes our - the taxpayers' - problem.

The following two websites may be of interest:

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/poll-shows-overwhelming-support-for-gillard-s-457

And:

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/employers-want-a-cheapie-just-arrived-off-the-boat-aussies-it-workers-told-20130315-2g515.html

The 457 Visa is a direct result of ever-increasing Union wage demands.
It's all their doing & now they're scared crapless.
Typical example when good gets too good & then out of hand.
It'll be extremely difficult to slow down a 40 year bandwagon.