In your dreams, Ludwig.

>>You get trounced but you keep coming back for another thumping!<<

Like your dream about shutting the entry door, throwing away the welcome mat, and persuading us all to hunker down in our wattle-and-daub humpies, eating berries and living at one with mother nature.

Ain't gonna happen. There are too many of us who actually enjoy living in this country, and are willing to encourage a reasonable number of newcomers, to help us continue to expand our economy and individual well-being.

What still puzzles me, as I mentioned in my last post, is which era you would actually like to take us back to. Because what you don't seem to comprehend is that standing still is, in fact, a form of regression. Are you unhappy because the Industrial Revolution dragged so many away from the countryside, into the cities? Are you upset with the whole concept of industrialization, perhaps? Or perhaps you are a Hitchhiker fanboi...

"Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

"This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

"And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.

"Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans." Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Just repeating slogans, Ludwig, is no substitute for thinking.

This is one of the better lines I heard on this forum in a long time

"Pericles, your post reads like it was written by someone who started off sober and then consumed a large glass of red with each paragraph written!"

But whats even funnier is he actually he wrote it backwards, as he consumed more red he made more sense.

Ludwig, while I sympathize with your quest for a sustainable population, the reality is, we simply have to grow, unless of cause you're happy to deny future people, the very living standards and quality of life that you have enjoyed yourself.

It is my opinion that growth is not so much a problem, as the type of growth.

It would be pointless to increase our population by providing welfare for the newcomers,either imports, or locals, as the only way forward is to make having an education and a job a must.

We should also get away from paying people to have babies, and cut people off if they won't find and hold a job.

While there are many who start jobs, they can't hold them, often because they don't want to.

Another problem is the way child support is calculated, as many detached parents simply choose the dole, in favor of a job, as they loose so much of their income, they decide it's not worth working.

The whole system has been allowed to deteriated for decades, and it will take many years to fix, but the trouble is, any government that try's to implement change, will be swiftly voted out.

So I essence, you may be right after all.

The subject needs debate, much surprise! along the path of Rechtubs first few lines above.
We need to focus on what can be done and should be done, instead of the one sided views it is only one party looking for growth.
I spoke about councils looking for growth, within the limits water imposes on us, we should look at migration to some country towns, and return, this time with true intent, to developing jobs and infrastructure to our bush.
Regional Development, never truly got rolling, maybe some migrants going there may help.

<< Like your dream about shutting the entry door, throwing away the welcome mat, and persuading us all to hunker down in our wattle-and-daub humpies, eating berries and living at one with mother nature. >>

Heheheee!

What are you trying to achieve, Pericles? To make yourself seem as loopy, extremist and out of touch as you possibly can?

You are an enigma – a highly articulate and seemingly intelligent person, who resorts to very silly and really quite unintelligent claptrap.

You are asserting that I want to achieve things that you know full well that I don’t. You are verballing and slandering me.

Divergence is doing an excellent job as always in dismantling your ‘arguments’. And you are helping her grealty in dismantling your credibility!

I don’t know what your game is but half the time it seems as though you actually ARE a sustainability advocate and you are just playing devil’s advocate for the sake of promulgating a discussion…. or an argument!

Some of the people making comment here have the wrong impression of what sustainability means.

It does not have to mean scrubbing away on a little plot of land to get food.
It does not mean the end of public transport.
It does not mean the end of electricity.

It does mean major changes in the way we live.
These people who just have no understanding should go and read up on
the Transition movement. They point out that under their ideas we can
all live a very good and happy life in our existing towns & suburbs.
Many things will be different, but they have shown how it can be done.
In may respects their program makes for a better life for all.

WE either learn to adapt or we go the way of the dodo.