Dear Minister Dutton.
Australians are sick of your government's excessive and irresponsible immigration rate and 457 Visa intake levels. This is clear by studying recent polls, Mark O'Connor's book Overloading Australia, and monitoring social media. Of particular concern is the dreadful impact that the your resulting unsustainable and damaging population growth rate is having on our local urban and natural environments.
(This letter has been sent today, 17 Jan 2016, to the Hon Peter Dutton MP. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. The author encourages others to copy and forward to other Lieberal MPs. The author, Geoff Dowsett, is a member of the Hornsby Kuringai Greens and a member of the NSW Greens Population/Sustainability Working Group. Headings have been inserted by the editor of candobetter.net and some minor typos have been corrected.)
Australia has among the world's highest population growth rates, due to mass immigration
Australia, now under your government has one of the world`s highest population growth rates which is destroying our capital cities and Australia`s delicate ancient eco systems and over stressing infrastructure and public services at an alarming rate. When are you going to recognize this and reduce Australia`s damaging, irresponsible and unsustainable immigration rate and 457 Visa intake ? When will you wake up to the fact that Australian`s are aware of your obvious hypocrisy in your treatment of desperate refugees while at the same time you import 260,000 pa net well off -middle class - aspirational economic migrants a year to flood our labour force to drive down wages and working conditions to third world levels. All for no better reason than to create consumers for Frank Lowy`s vile shopping centres, consumers for Harry Trigabuff`s battery hen appartments, while Melbourne and Sydney real estate prices sky-rocket out of reach of ordinary Australians? Our urban environment, quality of life, standard of living and heritage are now seriously compromised. I believe that your government is indulging in a giant Ponzi scheme which is rapidly leading to Australia`s and your government`s demise.
The 'skill shortage' is a furphy
The skills shortage is a complete furphy. It`s corporate and Liberal Party propaganda. A billion dollar industry all designed to mislead and deceive the Australian public. The reality is that it is corporations demanding high population growth for the purpose of lowering wages and working conditions and to create more consumers to boost their already obscene profits while your corporate masters laugh at the idea of any responsibility to employ Australians or pay taxes in return for the damage they do. This is pushing Australian living standards and over-stretched infrastructure down to third world levels. Your Governments propaganda is that there is a skills shortage. There isn't. The Baird Government in NSW is closing down and cutting funding to TAFE, public schools, and universities, when it should be training young Australians free—no fees. This tactic of reducing Government spending on needed infrastructure is all designed to keep big business happy. They are the big donors to the Liberal Party. He who pays the piper calls the tune. The non sense that we need more population to pay welfare costs is in reality more lies from your government`s propa ganda machine and the corporate media who finance your party.
Wealth distribution
The biggest welfare recipients are the big corporations who pay no tax and the very rich who avoid tax. Why should low income earners foot the welfare bill ? Australia`s growing problem is your government`s out dated irresponsible Social Darwinist economic policies which are widening the gap between rich and poor. Your government is one of robbing from the poor to pay the rich. An intelligent, socially and environmentally responsible tax system would tax BADS: gambling, alcoho, 4x4 gas guzzlers, McMansions, conspicuous consumption, and re distribute revenue into public infrastructure, free medical, free education, particularly to give women the freedom to choose to have smaller families, and free public transport. All of these civilized measures are the case in advanced intelligent countries such as Norway, Sweden, France,Italy and Cuba where population growth has been reduced down to responsible levels.
Most immigrants aspire to increase their consumer lifestyle
The bulk of your 260,000 pa well off middle class: aspirational, materialistic, high carbon and high eco-footprint immigrants are from the well off countries such as the UK and NZ. A smaller number of the well off so called “business” elites from India and China is increasing. They are not desperate refugees escaping death: war, flood, famine. If they are "skilled" then they are a brain-draining their home country. They come here to get rich: to indulge in high consumption lifestyles, just as the Liberal Party`s corporate donors want. More consumers = more consumption = more obscene profits and the wealth only trickles down to the masses, since your government has been instructed by your corporate masters to allow them to destroy Australia TAX FREE. This is nothing less than corporate welfare on a massive scale--unprecedented in our history. This is the foundation of the uncontrolled capitalist system we and the planet are suffering and which you are promoting. You have no mandate for this destruction of Australia. Your immigration policy and high birth rate policy is causing for more environmental problems increasing IMPACT on Sydney and other capital cities and the Brisbane Gold Coast growth corridor, increasing demand for high density housing, and increasing impact on Australia`s fragile ancient ecology.
Australia has the second highest carbon and eco-footprint per capita on the planet
Immigrants come here to get rich and to indulge in high consumption at the planet`s and Australia`s expense.
Baking a bigger cake in a finite world through increasing GDP Growth isn’t the solution. We must progress to a Steady State Economy and end our imprisonment by the Growth addicted capitalist behemoth and it`s addiction to constant increases in economic growth which demands constant population increase.
The Hon Kelvin Thomson MP, member for Wills is the only MP in Australia it appears who is prepared to criticise your Govt`s horrendous immigration rate and 457 Visa rort which fuels developers` destruction of Australian cities and fragile ecology and heritage. The population explosion is pay back for corporate bribes/donations to the Liberal Party. We are being SHANGHAI`D ( Dick Smith`s term ) by big business sociopaths – environmental criminals who care nothing for Sydney`s heritage, quality of life, infrastructure meltdown or sky-rocketing house prices out of reach of working families. Youth suicide and unemployment can also be attributed to the import of so called skilled workers and 457 Visa workers who work for third world standard conditions and wages.
Non-stop immigrant invasion
Your insidious immigration program deliberately favours middle class, aspirational, materialistic, right wing "business"/so called "skilled' immigrants who are not threatened with death, disaster, war or starvation, but who are brought into Australia to feed the insane capitalist, debt ridden, profit and growth-addicted destructive economy, while our standard of living, quality of life, urban heritage, infrastructure, fragile ecology hotspots and precious wildlife habitat, is bulldozed for more high rise and high density housing to house the non-stop immigrant invasion of Sydney and Melbourne.
I recommend you go to #10;<p>I suggest you acquaint yourself with the global movement for transition to the Steady State Eco responsible Economy. Your type of government is now irrelevant to the needs of Australia, which is facing terrible environmental challenges and social upheaval in the 21st century.</p> <p>It’s time to move away from the policies of the 1950s and try to find a way this country can live so as to preserve high standards of clean air, water, soil and biodiversity, whilst maintaining some semblance of community, rather than chasing the likes of Beijing and New Delhi into a nightmare of pollution and social polarisation.</p> <p>I don`t believe you understand your responsibilities in terms of inter-generational and intra-generational equity. Future generations will view your government actions as a vicious attack on Australia, its natural capital and social fabric.</p> <p>Geoff Dowsett. BA Dip Ed. Pennant Hills.</p> </body></html>">
Comments
Oden (not verified)
Sun, 2016-01-17 16:53
Permalink
Abandon 'hope' and become really effective
This letter will be effective because it has been published and also sent all over the place by email and facebook. The author obviously knows that writing to a Minister is like putting messages in a bottle and sending them out to sea, but publishing them all over the place might just alert people. Here is a great article about the need to abandon process prescribed by the enemy:
Give up hope, its the best chance we have to save everything we love.
anon (not verified)
Mon, 2016-01-18 10:29
Permalink
Admiration for migrants!
There's a lot of worship for the contribution migrants make towards our economy. and Australia Day is focused largely on celebrating the success of high immigration!
According to the Australian Bureau of statistics (ABS), the proportion of Australians who were born overseas, currently at 6.6 million people, has hit its highest point in 120 years. We are hardly short of "diversity"!
It's claimed that migrants lift the three "Ps" - population, participation and productivity - of high economic growth. Australia has a relatively stable fertility rate of 1.9 births per woman, which is below the replacement level. In actual fact, even without immigration our population would still be increasing, due to more births than deaths.
After 25 years of "economic growth", on the contrary we are facing greater budgetary austerity than before! With our high population growth, there's no necessarily a corresponding growth in participation or productivity.
There was an article recently about thousands of skilled migrant women either struggle to ever join the workforce or have their careers derailed by being forced into low-level jobs. A new labour force study, by AMES, funded by the federal government, has called migrant women Australia's "hidden assets", whose professional skills and potential value are being drastically underused.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/skilled-migrant-women-struggling-to-find-work-or-settling-for-lowlevel-jobs-study-20160107-gm1o77.html
There seems to be an extraordinary concern about migrants facing unemployment, or underemployment! Why should they be in front of any job queues?
With high rates of successful migrant integration and participation in the workforce, there would be more questioning of our high immigration. To proceed towards the unwanted "big Australia" policy, lots of manipulation is needed.
There's desperate attempt to describe migrants as "hidden assets" What about our own existing human resources, of well-educated and trained people in jobs below their expectations, and qualifications? They are considered of less importance.
nineofclubs (not verified)
Wed, 2016-01-27 12:55
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Time for some admiration for natives
Some excellent points, anon.
It concerns me to hear, repeatedly, that Australia is 'a land of migrants'. This tired old line, trotted out again and again by those with a vested interest in ongoing mass immigration, is completely untrue.
If we accept the dictionary definition of a native person; being "a person who was ?born in a ?particular ?place" then it is true to say that AT NO TIME in Australia's recorded history have the number of migrants here exceeded the native born. Yes, many of our forebears were immigrants, but so what? Just because my GGG grandparents were from Ireland does not make me Irish. I've never been to Ireland, have no real interest in going there and don't feel any affinity for anywhere except my native Australia.
So perhaps we should be promoting Australia as a land of natives, since factually this is what most of us are.
The other annoying assertion, heard in the media on Australia Day 2016, is that because Australia has 'enjoyed' (sic) mass immigration historically, it's now part of our national character. I disagree.
At various stages in Australia's history, immigration has been socially and economically beneficial. But immigration is like eating. The fact that eating some food is healthy does not mean that one should gorge all the time.
In my opinion, Australia has been gorging since at least 1993 and needs a period of abstinence now to digest. The drivers for immigration in the past - usually labour shortages during periods of rapid economic expansion - are nowhere to be found in Australia currently. The so-called skills shortages touted by our plutocracy in recent years are a complete fiction. The fact that Australia's hipster left is in lock-step agreement with this same plutocracy on the need for mass immigration is disappointing but not surprising, given it's lack of intellectual depth.
Aside from those who have speculated in areas dependent on rapid population growth, there is little (maybe no) need for Australia to take any migrants in the short term.
Time to end the cult of migration and look to celebrate the achievements of our native born.
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