Alright Spendocrat. I’ll bite. Why do you think “We need to boost up the population a bit.”?
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Arjay

“When we decide to have more than two children per family, then immigration won't be necessary”

In other words, when we have an eternally growing population of our own accord, we won’t need to import people? So why do you think we need a growing population at all?

You’ve got to realise that even with the current birthrate and net zero immigration, our population will continue to grow for a long time, due to the very high proportion of young ‘breeding’ people. So even with a personal fertility rate that is well below replacement level, the national fertility rate is significantly above replacement level.

So given this, can you now denounce immigration in Australia entirely, or immigration greater than net zero?

Why dont we stop all immigration for 15years or so and see what kind of intregration and dynamics eventuate between the groups we already have here. Then we can assess if mass immigration is benefiting the country or tearing it apart. We can also watch the world scene and see what happens in other countries with mass immigration.

Its all about making money and the more people in the shops the more profits people make. And the more workers the lower wages they can pay. Profit is again the motive. But we should be content with the wealth we already have and take some time out from immigration to asses the consequences to the long term stability of the country for the sake of our children and grandchildren and their children.

LUDWIG-:

I think I finally get what you are saying here, about personal growth rates and lots of young breeders. Sometimes I can be a bit lacking in clarity which is a nice way of saying sometimes I can be a bit thick. I think I had the same concerns in a way but went off on a different tack to defend mothers. It cant be addressed that way can it? Thank you for your wider insightfulness. Sometimes when I'm a bit crabby which I was that night I tend to jump in boots and all without looking hard enough.

Spendocrat says: "Excellent, more immigrants. We need to boost up the population a bit. Good for the workforce too."

Firstly, we do not need to boost the population. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but this continent's carrying capacity is severely limited by its aridness. The hot dry plains of central Australian aren't exactly habitable. Hence the reason why most of the nation's population is crammed into several narrow coastal strips.

A growing population combined with a warming climate is only going to exacerbate this nation's environmental sustainability problems, especially in relation to water scarcity.

Good for the workforce? By putting downward pressure on wages? I wonder if the Australian public would agree. Or perhaps you could ask one of the many unemployment IT workers unable to find a job thanks to the influx of foreign workers. At this rate, Australians are well on their way to following in the footsteps of the ethnic Malays as basically a majority underclass left to do the menial jobs while minorities get the administrative and business positions.

Never mind issues of social cohesion. Never mind that Australia's current population may wish to retain its own traditions and culture, instead of being overborne by large immigrations of disparate and perhaps culturally hostile groups. Never mind that every "multicultural" nation in history has eventually ripped itself apart.

Environmental sustainability must underwrite any immigration and population policy. In Australia's case, the environmental constraints on population growth are reason enough to oppose high immigration.

Australians are political and intellectual pygmies; that's why we have always had high-immigration governments. Voters haven't put a stop to it.

Stop whining about the consequences of your complacency. You've had the democratic freedoms to allow you to dictate what you want to politicians, but you have blown in it, preferring to bury your heads up your fundamental orifices for the sake of a quite life, sport, beer and the the long weekend.

Leigh: you're a twit.

Ludwig: I actually don't see how boosting the population helps the economy, but then I don't know much about the economy. I do know that most say an increase in population would help (as we're facing an ageing population etc). That's why politicians are encouraging people to have babies and so on.

I just find it weird that the politicians keep saying 'have more babies' at the same time as working to keep immigrants out. We apparently need more people, and other countries clearly have way too many. I believe I can spot a way to kill two birds...

That's one of the reasons why I won't be having any children (in addition to my general distate for screaming mini people). I consider it to be selfish to bring more people into an already desperately overpopulated world. There's already millions of children alive right now, in need of love and nurture and shelter and food and care. But we're not interested, cause their parents had sex somewhere far away! So it's not our concern, we'll have our own thanks! Bizarre really.