Why are so many surprised that Doctors can be terrorists? Why are people so surprised that some imported professionals, like the recent Dr Death in Bundaberg, can be so substandard, to say the least.

The current awareness that not all professional people have Australia's best interest in mind is no surprise to most of us. Employing immigrants in positions that really should be held by Australian trained professionals is a well-known need for responsible care, higher standards and empathy with those of us using the services.

This is now a crisis for Australia. We have an urgent shortage of Nurses, Police, Teachers particularly in Maths and Sciences, Academic Staff and Doctors.

It is time for many more scholarships, lower HECS fees and more places for Australians using training and Universities for our national interest rather than an export industry. Generation Y is not as keen to be University trained. They know that this is only for the rich and ,therefore, a waste of money in a "loop of HECS and accumulated debt".

Time to seriously reassess training and recruiting our professionals as a matter of urgency.

Mr Costello, investment in foreign bank accounts for a "future fund" in higher education is a stupid idea when the crisis is more immedeate and on a "chalk face" level! Tax payers money is invested to foreign banks, telephone companies and therefore given to foreign interests.

University placements are given to foreign students, and professional jobs are given to foreign trained staff.

When will the Australian Government invest in Australia?

Training and recruiting to higher standards IS an investment in Australia!

stf, stop moaning about the government- they are doing what's best for them. if oz were a democracy, you and like minded citizens could use citizen initiative to compel education for ozzie children. but it's not a democracy, and you're not a citizen.

it's a sheep station, you're a sheep, and all your baaing amounts to nothing. if you're not willing to change things, maybe you should pretend you like what's happening. it's less embarrassing.

CLOSE THE LAW SCHOOLS AND DIRECT THE RESOURCES TO SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND ENGINEERING. LAWYERS ARE HELL BENT ON LITIGATING THE HELL OUT OF THE REST OF US; THEY OFFER NOTHING IN RETURN.
EVERYONE WINS:
1) LOWER PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE RATES.
2) LOWER HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CHARGES AS MEDICAL MAL-PRACTICE INSURANCE WILL DIMINISH.
3) THE NEED TO BRING IN MAIL ORDER MEDICAL PROFFESSIONALS WITH ALL KINDS OF RELIGEOUS AND EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE WILL ALSO DIMINISH

How true, DEMOS and SILLE.

To go further, we should only allow White immigrants and deport all those who refuse to conform to our way of life, with special treatment for those 'clerics' who spout their messages of hate for the West. Make the wearing of masks and veils illegal.

There is a great pool of White Rhodesians and South Africans who would gladly populate our country areas. Invite them in, we've let them down too much in the past with posturing against apartheid etc., while doing SFA about Mugabe.

DEMOS that is the most nialistic response I think I've had

Lawyers merely provide a means to litigating the hell out of each other - its ordinary people who want to litigate. Simply shutting law schools is going to be of little use. The silliest one I heard recently was an accountant found guilty (well came to an out of court settlement in the end) because he had advised a client on buying a business, then the client through his own poor management skills went broke. Problem isnt the lawyers, its the laws, and all the idiots not prepared to take responsibility for their own short-comings.

But yes, we do appear to have a crisis in a number of areas, the main one being health. Why are the scores for entry to medicine still up at 99 (from 100), when students that score 80-90 are still quite capable of managing the learning content of a medical degree. At the very least the entrance scores should be dropped for country students, with the proviso that they must work in country areas once qualified. Also we need to note that HECS fees for medicine are the highest bracket (same as law subjects) - this needs to be addressed to make it more economically appealing. Yes doctors eventually make quite good money, but takes them some years to get to that point, and they bloody awful hours to do it.