There are a record number of 54 political parties represented in the Senate in these elections.
There are obviously glaring "gaps" in concerns and policies not being addressed by the mainstream parties, the ALP and the Coalition.
Each party below, and the list is not exhaustive, was searched for policies on:
wildlife
environment
population growth/immigration
animal rights
asylum seekers
(if any are absent it's because no policy was found)
Animals Justice Party
Environment
Foster sustainable animal habitats through upholding healthy ecosystems via revegetation and animal-friendly land practices.
Wildlife
Put in place the absolute opposite to institutional, commercial and recreational killing of innocent wildlife.
Animal rights
The Animal Justice Party will actively campaign at a government policy level against animal cruelty atrocities relating to wildlife destruction; factory farming; animal transportation; companion and domestic animals, pet animals and the use of animals for sport and entertainment.
We’ll advocate the toughening of animal protection laws; an increase in penalties for convicted animal abusers; the regulation and restriction in the sale and use of pets, and enhance education in greater awareness and appreciation of the needs of animals.
Population/immigration
A land use and population settlement structure, one that's sustainable for its inhabitants and ecosystems.
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Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated
Population/immigration
Reduce and Limit Immigration. Immigration mistakes can be big long term mistakes. Immigration policy must take into account social cohesion, employment opportunities, urbanisation and environmental issues.
Abolish Multiculturalism. End the divisive, government funded and institutionalised policy of multiculturalism.
Asylum seekers
The boat-people and refugee intrusions began long ago, over 30 years ago, creating enclaves in Australian cities, no-go areas, crime. It resurfaced again in the late Eighties and in the early Nineties – and it has been a constant ever since. From a past emphasis on Asian ‘refugees’ (sic) it has become Moslem Middle Easterners and Central Asians, Tamils, Africans.
But the pace is quickening, towards a great noon, a flood. I call it nothing less than that. Masses of humanity are on the move.
There are today some 14,000,000 official refugees in the world. I use that term both in its accurate and scam aspects; but the numbers of economic refugees are limitless. The bright lights of European capitalism beckon to those ruined by poverty.
Warfare, some of it symbolised by the criminal wars in and in which participates, fuels it all. And what of the civil war in between the elites and the Communist Party of India (Maoist)?
If the latter wins the war, the escaping Indian rich-class is enough to drown your country. But the problem of refugee numbers goes deeper.
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Australian Christians
Environment
Australian Christians believes that environmental issues are important because the environment is God-given and sustains life. Humans have an obligation to responsibly manage the environment and to mitigate, where feasible, environmental change and pollution. Land use management which enhances environmentally sustainable development.
Wildlife
We believe in protecting natural biodiversity and areas of significance.
Asylum seekers
Regarding stopping dangerous boat journeys, we believe the Australia Government should investigate opening a refugee processing facility, in conjunction with Indonesia and under the governance of the UNHCR in Indonesia. This could be staffed by Indonesians, providing employment for the locals, under the management of Australia personnel, and jointly funded by Australia, UNHCR and Indonesia.
Regarding refugee intake in general, we believe Australia should re-balance the refugee intake to reduce the number of Muslim refugees and take more persecuted Christians form various African countries.
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Australian Democrats
Environment
Policies on:
-Agriculture Policy
-Biodiversity
-Biosecurity
-Coasts_and_Oceans
-Farm_Management
-Fishing and Aquaculture
-Global Climate
-Invasive Species
-Population
-Rural Land Use and Management
-Salinity Soil Conservation and Land Clearing Policy
(Ironically, the one on Population is significantly missing!)
Wildlife
To ensure planetary biological diversity by restoring damaged ecosystems to health wherever possible; anticipating, preventing and stopping processes that threaten biodiversity; fostering greater ecological awareness and progressively addressing the underlying economic, institutional and social causes of the ecological crisis.
Animal rights
Yo ensure the sustainability of natural fishing resources and aquaculture industries by means of adequate research, management and enforcement with a mind to supporting a viable industry as well as conserving the environment. Research and development of organic farming will be encouraged.
Population/immigration
The Australian Democrats believe in a non discriminatory immigration program which gives priority to refugees and family reunion, the total number of which, when included with overall population trends will not impede sustainability of the nation's natural resources.
Asylum seekers
The Australian Democrats Queensland Lead Senate Candidate for the forthcoming election has commended the Prime Minister for his actions to save the lives of refugees on the high seas, but contends Mr. Rudd’s solution is in itself an exercise in “People Trading”.
Mr. Stevenson has called for a debate on the merits of Home Detention and integration as the way forward for refugee management in Australia. “There are more than enough compassionate Australian families willing to take refugees into their homes, care for them and integrate them into the Australian way of life, as contributing citizens.”
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Australian Greens
Environment
Good economic management means taking care of our earth — not treating our most precious resources like a giant business in liquidation: ‘everything must go!’. The levels of pollution in our atmosphere mean that business-as-usual will no longer work if we want to avoid dangerous climate change. The future for Australia can still be a prosperous one if we build our economy on green principles rather than short-term self-interest.
Wildlife
The Greens' plan proposes a national grants program of $5 million per annum to support volunteer wildlife carers. The program would help subsidise food and medical expenses for sick and injured wildlife and assist with purchase of wildlife care equipment.
We would support training programs for our wildlife carers.
We would fund increased knowledge about successful wildlife care and rehabilitation.
The funding would support other activities such as 24-hour wildlife care advice hotlines and community education.
Recognition of the essential role played by mature forest ecosystems in wildlife habitat, carbon storage and water supply. Australia is recognised globally as "mega-diverse” - over 80% of our mammals, reptiles and flowering plants exist only in Australia. But Australia’s wildlife is facing an extinction crisis. Many of our famous and important animals and plants are classified as in danger of becoming extinct.
Fund comprehensive studies to identify and map important habitat nationally (including protected ecological communities, areas of critical habitat for threatened species and important wildlife corridors);
The Greens have a long track record of fighting for better protection for Australia’s wildlife and precious places. In this term of parliament, we secured the $1 billion Biodiversity Fund, a grants fund supporting local and regional groups to rehabilitate degraded habitat and restore wildlife corridors and ecosystem health.
Animal rights
The Australian Greens believe that:
1.Animals have intrinsic value, separate from the needs of humans, who have a responsibility to ensure that animals’ rights and welfare are respected.
2.Humans have a duty of care to minimise physical and psychological suffering of animals resulting from human activity.
3.Strong animal welfare standards are necessary.
4.Native animals and their habitats are at particular risk and require stringent protections.
Population/immigration
The Australian Greens believe that:
1.The current level of population, population growth and the way we consume are outstripping environmental capacity. Australia must contribute to achieving a globally sustainable population and encourage and support other nations to do the same.
2.Our environmental impact and ecological footprint is not determined by population numbers alone, but by a range of factors including per capita consumption patterns and levels, distribution of resources, agricultural practices for domestic consumption and export, levels and types of industrial activity, urban design and transport options.
3.Australia's population policy should be determined by its commitment to:
-ecological sustainability;
-global and domestic social justice and equity, including women's rights;
-intergenerational equity;
-multiculturalism;
-international human rights obligations; and
-decent wages and conditions for all workers.
4.Population policy should not be primarily driven by economic goals or to counter the effects of an ageing population.
5.An Australian population policy must consider the geographical distribution of human settlements rather than just concentrate upon population size at the national level.
6.Australia has an obligation to accept humanitarian migration including that resulting from climate change.
7.The continuing rapid increase in the human population has the potential to adversely affect national or international outcomes in environmental sustainability, human health and welfare, and other areas. Current rates of resource use are not sustainable and are compounded by inequitable distribution of wealth and power.
Asylum seekers
Only the Greens are a voice for compassion in this debate.
In their rush to the right, both old parties have committed to sending refugees into danger instead of giving them safer pathways to a new home where they can rebuild their lives.
Punishing refugees with deportations, detention and military responses doesn’t work. Asylum seekers had enough intimidation, enough fear and enough danger already — and cruel camps like Manus are no place for vulnerable people and their children. It’s time to shut the camps down.
The only way to help refugees is to make sure they don’t feel the need to board a dangerous boat in the first place — and that means setting up safe, official ways for them to seek asylum in countries like Australia.
We can do that today by:
funding safe UN assessment centres to quickly process claims in Indonesia
urgently resettling more refugees once their claims are approved
then building a regional solution like Malcolm Fraser’s government did.
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Australian Independents
Environment
The Australian Independents are for lifting the “Renewable Energy Target” to above 30% by 2020 and 75% by 2030.
The Australian Independents are for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
The Australian Independents are for renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydropower and biomass.
The Australian Independents are for significant investment in the renewables industry.
The Australian Independents are against Coal Seam Gas mining and are for an immediate ban on coal seam gas mining in Australia.
The Australian Independents are for banning gas-fired power stations, fuelled by CSG.
The Australian Independents are for outlawing uranium, its transportation and export trade.
The Australian Independents are for protecting residents from toxic waste.
Wildlife
The Australian Independents are for creative ways of dealing with bothersome native animals (i.e. kangaroos in Canberra), as opposed to mass culls.
The Australian Independents are committed to outlawing whaling, including whaling for "scientific" purposes.
Animal rights
The Australian Independents are for banning puppies and kittens being sold in pet shops (as most end up being abandoned).
The Australian Independents are against "puppy farming" and are for puppies and kittens only being sold by licenced, regulated breeders and animal rescue organisations.
The Australian Independents are pushing for the caging of large birds such as lorikeets and cockatoos to be outlawed.
The Australian Independents will advocate for educational programs to highlight the consequences of, and damage that can be done by, allowing predator pets to roam after dark.
The Australian Independents will push for programs to teach Australians about the importance of vaccinations and fertility control for pets.
The Australian Independents are for reducing oceanic noise pollution to prevent whales from becoming disorientated, stressed and beached.
The Australian Independents are for minimising human cruelty towards animals.
Asylum seekers
The Australlian Indpendents are for all refugees being processed in or near their own countries. The Australian Independents are for increasing the refugee intake to 50,000 per year. The Australian Independents are for asylum seekers boosting populations of small towns in rural and regional areas of Australia.
The Australian Indpendents are for asylum seekers securing employment in rural and regional areas of Australia (currently there are over 100,000 jobs that urgently need filling in outback Australia).
The Australian Independents are for all asylum seekers who arrive by boat to be transported back to their own countries by plane, for processing
The Australian Independents are for a wide-spread awareness raising campaign to inform asylum seekers of the locations of the processing centres in their own countries.
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Australian Protectionist Party
Environment
Save Australia from the ravages of over-population, which is causing environmental ruin, and instead create a sustainable future for our land. Introduce measures to develop ecological sustainability. Immigration must be reduced until the completion of scientific research that will determine the “environmental footprint” of our population.
Population/immigration
Implement a zero-net immigration policy, on a “one in, one out” basis. To have sensible immigration programmes that will be geared towards accepting into our country only those people who will readily fit into our society, primarily from culturally compatible countries. To seek a homogeneous society where we can all live in harmony, free from the ethnic and racial strife caused by social-engineering experiments. End Third World immigration and Muslim immigration, and offer economic assistance to those who wish to be reunited with their people’s homeland.
We recognize that a population’s impact upon the environment is caused not just from the water they drink, the food they consume, the roads they drive on, or the products they buy – an enormous environmental impact is necessarily caused by the very creation of all the consumables that those people use, whether this occurs on farms, in factories, or in shops.
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Australian Stable Population Party
Environment
Australia should progress economically and socially using resources in ecologically sustainable ways to protect the environment and the natural world. The aim is wellbeing for all Australians, present and future, and to preserve the biodiversity of our ecosystems, with enough space and resources to live well and in balance with each other. A sustainable Australia starts with a stable population.
Population/immigration
The Stable Population Party is made up of Australians from all backgrounds who support an ongoing, balanced and flexible migration program. We also reject government interference in decisions regarding family size, including offering 'bonus' cash incentives to have large families. Responsible population policies are urgently required for Australia, in order to avoid draconian policies in the future.
Stabilising as soon as practicably possible will deliver us an optimum population target of around 23-26 million through to 2050. Australia's fertility rate, currently around two children per woman, and average life expectancy would largely determine the exact number. Population growth in Australia is a big problem but it is easy to solve, if our politicians have the courage.
Asylum seekers
Asylum seekers arriving by boat (recent annual average around 10,000-20,000 p/a) make up around 10 per cent of our immigration and around 5 per cent of Australia's annual population growth of around 350,000-400,000 people.
Stable Population Party supports an annual total refugee intake of around 14,000-20,000 - the highest per capita resettlement in the world
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Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)
Wildlife
The Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has supported the 'National Parks and Wildlife (Adjustment of Areas) Bill 2010' in the NSW Legislative Council.
The Christian Democratic Party supports the National Parks and Wildlife (Adjustment of Areas) Bill 2010. Once land is reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 it cannot be revoked unless by an Act of Parliament. The passing of this bill will allow the revocation of land, which is sometimes necessary to address boundary errors and encroachments or to enable the development of public infrastructure that is not permissible under the National Parks and Wildlife Act.
Animal rights
"Without getting into a debate about the ideology of The Greens, they always seem to have great concern about protecting the life of animals, even unborn animals—I do not oppose that—but a lack of concern for the lives of human beings".
The Christian Democratic Party respects the advice and leadership of the Shooters and Fishers Party in the area of game and feral animal control. They have expert knowledge—far exceeding the knowledge of The Greens on this issue. The Shooters and Fishers Party are part of the self-regulation of this whole area of game management licences and that is why there have been so many improvements to the area of game and feral animal control in this State.
Live exports: The animals' throats were cut and allowed to bleed, under Islamic law. they regard it as retrograde, but the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils regards it as a positive step by the Federal Labor Government to promote sharia finance law and the introduction of halal food into Australia. However, the federation is not simply promoting that; it wants a whole system of certification that companies have to apply. Apparently the companies pay a fee that goes to the Islamic body.
Population/immigration
That the root causes of hunger, poverty and environmental decay are the breakdown of the natural family and political and economic failures, not human “overpopulation”;
We are pleased that the emphasis is on Australian schools. There has been a shortage of skilled workers in Australia, which is why hundreds of workers have been brought in from overseas on special visas to work in our industries. Ideally, we should be providing those skills from our own population and education system. The fact that we need to import hundreds of individuals from overseas on special visas highlights that our education system is not producing sufficient numbers of people with the skills needed to work in various Australian industries. As with the regulation of overseas students, we must ensure that we have the quality in our own education system to meet those needs.
Asylum seekers
CDP affirms that it is the sovereign right of any nation to determine who may enter its borders for temporary or permanent stay and that the operations of people smugglers should continue to be disrupted and frustrated.
CDP considers that Australia should continue to meet its international obligations to treat unauthorised arrivals humanely and expediently consider any claims they make for refugee status. Persons who arrive illegally and make claims for protection that are proven false should be removed from Australia as soon as practicable. Mandatory detention should continue for all persons without authority to be in Australia, although provisions for supervised release into the community for families with children should be considered.
Australia should continue to be a world leader in being a generous haven for genuine refugees through internationally supervised and orderly refugee resettlement programs. Priority should be given to refugee applicants who are most likely to readily integrate into the Australian way of life, including those who are being persecuted for their Christian faith.
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Citizens Electoral Council of Australia
Environment
“The ACF seeks to destroy Australia’s productive industries, and stop infrastructure development, because it is those things that support our human population,” Mr Isherwood pointed out.
“For example, it’s the ACF that has led the charge to shut down the Murray-Darling Basin, because it is our nation’s food-bowl.”
The green issue and climate change is a “fraud”. There is absolutely no scientific rationale behind Environment Minister Tony Burke’s opposition to letting starving cattle into national parks to feed.
As the Citizens Electoral Council exposed in its 2012 video ‘Ecosystems’: A Genocidal Fraud, the idea of the delicately-balanced ecosystem is a myth. Letting the cattle into the national parks to feed is no threat to nature; it is only a threat to the agenda of green fascism.
All Australians should demand that Tony Burke stop blocking this sensible approach to alleviating the present drought crisis.
“Who will save the farmers?” Citizens Electoral Council leader Craig Isherwood demanded to know, following the Gillard government’s suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months.
“This whole issue is Green/media bulldust,” he declared. “The government’s decision doesn’t suddenly ensure animal welfare. It doesn’t suddenly change the practices of small-time abattoir operations in Indonesia. As Four Corners admitted, Indonesians don’t have enough refrigeration, so they rely on the live export trade to allow them to buy their beef fresh. By denying them the trade, the Indonesian people are being denied precious protein which enables them to live longer and stronger".
Population/immigration
We must establish generous immigration quotas, for the same reason which the Labor Party welcomed the "new Australians" after World War II—to help build our nation. From the very beginning, Australia has been a nation of hope and opportunity for people of many nationalities and religious backgrounds. While the CEC is opposed to the pious fraud known as "multiculturalism", because it pits one group against another, we warmly welcome those coming here to make a better life for themselves and their families. They will help build Australia (which will suffer a severe labor shortage as the rest of this platform is implemented), just as other generations of immigrants have done.
Ehrlich expressed his pessimism about avoiding disaster and called, like the Royal Society report, for a massive redistribution of resources from the rich to the poor—a grand Second Law of Thermodynamics leveling that will lead to even more rapid genocide.
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Country Alliance
Environment
Country Alliance believes that Government must state its commitment to addressing the actions and consequences of extremist environmental protesters, such as those affecting the forestry industry and others.
Government must clearly and concisely state what actions protestors can lawfully engage in, what actions or activities are illegal and proscribe specific and appropriate penalties for those activities. Due to the 'serial' nature of some protests, prescribed penalties should be compounded with each subsequent offence.
Country Alliance opposes the creation of more national and marine parks until the management of existing management parks is assessed as adequate.
Wildlife
The creation of a statutory authority in all states to manage and oversee the management of hunting of both pest animal species and game. The amendment of current legislation to permit the consumption or use of any animal or waterfowl, whether native or introduced, that is legally taken under a pest mitigation program.
The exclusion of ducks from current provisions in existing legislation is a contradiction and should be removed.
Country Alliance supports the continuation of recreational use of four wheel drive vehicles, rodeos, recreational fishing, recreational shooting and hunting and the opening up of public lands to public access.
Population/immigration/asylum seekers
The Country Alliance is not in Government and not concerned with matters outside it's area of interest and influence.
The Country Alliance prides itself on being a local party focussing on local issues which matter most to people in regional Victoria - issues like access to basic services and fair treatment.
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Democratic Labour Party (DLP)
Wildlife
The DLP will continue to support programs and organisations that operate to protect endangered species of Australian wildlife.
Population/immigration
Concentrated excessive growth and density in urban centres puts a great strain on the environment. To limit this, we must decentralise a large proportion of the projected growth from the major cities to provincial centres. As a general principle, whenever an area of native bush land is cleared for development, another equivalent area should be protected or created.
The need to protect native plants and natural beauty must be considered before any action taken toward development.
Asylum seekers
We must focus on what we can do to help the plight of asylum seekers in a balanced, dignified, safe and compassionate way. Rather than spending billions of dollars every year on keeping asylum seekers detained offshore, we should be spending this money within our domestic economy through an onshore processing solution. This will create jobs for Australian workers while treating asylum seekers with dignity. It will save lives and strengthen our economy.
We must work more closely with our regional neighbours, particularly Indonesia, to ensure our ability to help 30,000 refugees each year in an orderly and sustainable fashion and maintaining secure borders is not undermined.
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Future Party
Environment
The preservation of the environment is necessary for a variety of reasons, such as to preserve our clean water, air and food sources, to avoid extinction of species and preserve genetic diversity, and to ensure that the world remains an enjoyable and comfortable habitat. The Future Party acknowledges, however, that humans have advanced by manipulating and controlling the environment and life around us. The Future Party believes that the existence of humans requires some impact on the environment we live in. It is important, however, that when a decision affecting the environment is made, options that minimise the impact on the environment should be given precedence where it is feasible to do so.
Policy: The Future Party believes that native forest logging should end.
Wildlife
Clearing of native forests threaten biodiversity and increase the chances of extinction of species. Land clearing also reduces the carbon stores of land, which add to the greenhouse effect. The Future Party sees native forest logging as being of low value to the economy, while having significant impact on the environment. Hence the Future Party is against the logging of native forests. The Future Party sees the future of the Australian timber industry being primarily based on farmed forests.
Population/immigration
The Future Party currently has no formal stance on how to prevent refugee deaths at sea. However, we do intend to increase refugee immigration intake significantly, regardless of policy with regards to irregular arrivals. We consider ourselves to be the most pro-immigration party in Australia.
James Jansson, party leader and Senate candidate, said “There is no evidence at all that the program is being exploited at the expense of Australian workers. The Government is attempting to rush through legislation for a problem that isn’t even real, let alone urgent. This is purely about acting tough on migrants for political gain.”
The Government’s own report on 457 visas shows that applications have remained steady at around 6000 applications per month since 2011. The visa grant rates appear to have actually reduced slightly in recent times, with only 5150 applications granted in April 2013. The rule will do little to change employment conditions in Australia. Many of those who obtain 457 visas go on to obtain permanent residency, becoming long-term members of our society.
The Future Party prides itself on its uniquely pro-immigration stance.
Asylum seekers
As with increases in any form of migration, consideration must be given to the stresses that increases in population put on housing supply and infrastructure, and policies should be implemented that increase housing supply and infrastructure to ensure that migrants aren’t scapegoated for the failure of governments to plan ahead for increasing populations.
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Katter's Australian Party
Environment
Katter: “These national parks have been grazed by cattle throughout almost all of their entire history – indeed some wild ‘scrubby’ beasts still remain – so there will be no difference to the flora and fauna from allowing them temporary access to greener pastures. In point of fact, national parks in North Qld have actually become ‘nurseries’ for feral animals and weeds since being locked up by governments who are obsessed with pandering to the greenie monster.
Wildlife
Mr Katter blamed governments’ “pandering to the greenie vote at the expense of human lives and safety” for the increasing populations of dangerous, destructive and disease-carrying animals such as feral pigs, flying foxes and crocodiles encroaching on human territory. Mr Katter said licensed shooters were far more effective and preferable to baiting, which was indiscriminate to species such as native carrion birds, or trapping, which captured young cassowaries.
Animal rights
Mr Katter said no one had accepted responsibility or been punished for the animal welfare breaches and suspension of trade, except the cattle men in Northern Australia and millions of Indonesians who were potentially going hungry. Federal Independent MPs Katter and Wilkie also want training for abattoir workers and the upgrading of abattoirs to ensure humane slaughtering of Australian live-stock is maintained to Australian standards, while working with Indonesian authorities.
Within seven days, they also want the government to deploy 60 stun guns, knocking boxes and video cameras with appropriate training measures.
Population/immigration
Australia's sovereignty and independence as a nation requires Australia to have a sufficient population and for that population to be so distributed as to demonstrate occupation, control and utilisation of our land, water and other resources. Australia needs to increase its population to achieve acceptable levels of economic, scientific, strategic and personal development. Government must develop immigration and birth rate policies consistent with these principles. In addition, the population growth needs to be distributed widely throughout Australia and especially into northern Australia.
Federal Queensland MP Bob Katter declared war on mining magnates lobbying for unskilled foreign workers to be flown in to fill job shortages in Queensland. Mr Katter said the move would take jobs from Australians and undermine the nation's wage structure.
Mr Katter slammed the Federal Government for considering the plan.
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Liberal Democratic Party
Environment
Although some people view humans and the environment as distinct and separate, in reality humans rely on the environment in the same way as any other species. All animals and plants utilise what they need to survive and flourish, adapting to the environment and making it adapt to them. Inevitably, the environment changes as a consequence.
There is nothing inherently superior about the "natural" environment, a term that simply refers to that part of the environment man has not extensively modified, nor anything inferior about the man-made environment. The elevation by some people of the natural environment to semi-religious status is no more than a reflection of their personal beliefs and values. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) aims for a more balanced perspective.
Some people simply prefer the look of them and, because they have been here longer, many native species are also more practical because they are better adapted to Australian conditions. However, a lot of species introduced by Europeans are far more useful to humans. Indeed, Australia would not be able to support a fraction of its current population were it not for exotic species.
The LDP supports a vigorous, sustainable forestry industry. However, we regard governments as unsuitable providers of forestry services, incapable of achieving the goals of forestry more efficiently than private owners. Moreover, public funding of government forestry bureaucracies has contributed to waste and poor resource utilisation for decades.
Population/immigration
The LDP would increase opportunities to live and work in Australia while carefully guarding access to welfare and citizenship. The LDP believes the free movement of people, within and between countries, generally contributes to greater prosperity.
It believes immigrants contribute a net social and economic benefit to Australia and advocates expanding opportunities to live, study and work in Australia while carefully guarding access to welfare and citizenship.
The LDP also supports “Free Immigration Agreements” with certain countries similar to the existing agreement with New Zealand.
Asylum seekers
It is important that Australia provides a sanctuary for people who are fleeing political oppression and persecution, both on compassionate grounds and to demonstrate to the rest of the world the attractions of a free and democratic society. Such people can also become fierce advocates of freedom in Australia, having experienced its loss.
After paying the immigration fee a migrant will become a Permanent Resident. PRs will have the same rights to live and work as citizens except they cannot vote, they do not receive an Australian passport, they are not entitled to welfare income payments (though they may still use public health, education and infrastructure) and they may be deported if they commit crimes of a serious nature or are unable to support themselves.
Migrants will be free to remain in Australia permanently as PRs without ever applying for citizenship or returning to their home country at any time. The maintenance of a significant non-citizen population is common in many countries including Singapore, Switzerland, Dubai, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan.
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National Party of Australia
Population/immigration
“By 2050, Australia’s population will balloon to 40 million mouths to feed. At the same time, the world population will explode to over 9 billion. And half of these people will live in the Asia-Pacific region, literally on our northern doorstep.
“The world is entering an era of food shortage and shrinking farm production as water and farmland are eaten up by urban sprawl. Australia must ensure we can meet our future domestic needs but also capitalise on ever-growing world food needs. Their solution is to build and settle the north of Australia".
Asylum seekers
If elected, a Coalition government will establish a military-led response to combat people smuggling and to protect our borders – Operation Sovereign Borders.
An incoming Coalition government will treat the border protection crisis as a national emergency and tackle it with the focus and energy that an emergency demands.
The scale of this problem requires the discipline and focus of a targeted military operation, placed under a single operational and ministerial command and drawing together all the necessary resources and deployments of government agencies.
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One Nation
Population/immigration
One Nation believes in balanced, zero net immigration (subject to review depending on economic conditions) and that coming to Australia is a privilege that must not be undervalued. We reserve the right of discretion in protecting our economy, social cohesion and cultural heritage.
This does NOT mean zero immigration.
The justification for our policy of not exceeding zero net immigration is that environmentally, Australia is near her carrying capacity. Economically, immigration is unsustainable and socially, if continued as is, will lead to a further ethnically divided Australia. Current policy is encouraging large numbers of illegal migrants and it is time Australia, while recognising the contribution made by migrants in the past, sends to the world the message that mass immigration has passed its “use by date.”
Asylum seekers
We are losing control of our borders, and it is costing the Australian taxpayer billions of dollars. Australians wanting help with housing, health and services are pushed to the back of the queue because the illegals are more important. Remember we are on the world stage and Rudd and Gillard had to present themselves as leaders of a caring and compassionate country with regards to refugees in the eyes of the world.
What we have here is someone coming into your home telling you they like your house better than theirs and they are going to live with you. You have to feed, cloth, care, and educate them while looking after their needs. Your children now have to share a room and you have to make the dollars stretch further to provide for them. They don’t have to work you are providing for them. If you don’t give them what they want they will complain and you will be forced to answer why you are so inhumane not to have them live in your home, that you worked hard for.
A clear message from Australians is 'stop the boats'. Now we see Rudd and his Labor puppeteers, Bob Carr and Tony Bourke, espousing that they are economic refugees and have no right to come to Australia, after all these years and 46,000 boat people later. What a backflip and do they think Australians are that gullible?
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Palmer United Party
Animal rights
Mr Palmer said that large sectors of the rural economy had been disrupted as a result of Labor’s inability to handle the issue of live cattle exports.
“They’ve abandoned the country because they are more concerned with their own internal politics and factions,” Mr Palmer said.
“This issue has been around for so long but nothing has been fixed – it’s a disgrace.”
Population/immigration
Over the last half century, in particular, Australia’s political, economic, social and cultural development has been expanded and accelerated by the migration of people from all parts of the world.
The success of modern Australia has been its ability to accommodate in harmony such diversity of backgrounds, and to find in that diversity not division but strength in the common acknowledgement of an Australian nationhood, its meaning and importance.
Asylum seekers
Revising the current Australian Government’s Refugee Policy to ensure Australia is protected and refugees are given opportunities for a better future and lifestyle. We spend Billions of dollars each year trying to deal with illegal entry into Australia. Our Navy is deployed at great cost and does
not now do what it should do and defend Australia. People are attracted to this country by many financial and other benefits that the government offers. Families of new arrivals are separated and kept in camps at the taxpayers’ expense and many people lose their lives while people smugglers make a fortune. While all this is going on the Australian People continue to suffer. We need to change things. It is the Australian government that creates the market for people smugglers to prosper.
If a person seeking entry into Australia was allowed to board a plane for $800 to fly to one of our airports such as Sydney or Brisbane they wouldn’t need to pay the People Smugglers up to $20,000 for illegal entry to Australia.
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Rise Up Australia Party
Environment
To ensure that Australia’s natural resources (forestry, minerals, fisheries, agriculture, water, biodiversity etc) and unique environments are managed wisely in accord with rational science and not by ideological environmental mantras; we therefore advocate expansion of scientific research by Australians on such areas as the marine environment, ecosystems, timber, agriculture etc.
We believe in “climate change” – for thousands of years the climate has been changing and it will continue to change; the notion that anthropogenic emissions of the plant-food carbon dioxide have affected, or will affect, the macro-climatic changes that would have occurred anyway as part of nature (e.g. volcanoes, solar variations etc) is a quasi-religious hypothesis unproven by objective scientific facts. Computer modelling always involves subjectivity and should not be used as the sole basis for policies;
Population/immigration
To promote harmony, freedom and tolerance among Australians; specifically we oppose multiculturalism; we rejoice that Australia is multi-ethnic, and that people who come here are free to celebrate (at their own, not taxpayers’ expense) their own diverse backgrounds, while respecting Australian culture and complying with Australian laws;
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Socialist Alliance
Environment
Capitalist globalisation is destroying the earth. We live under the reign of a class willing to jeopardise our lives and those of future generations for quick cash.
Capitalism destroys habitat and renders species extinct, yet the survival of animal and plant life is essential for human progress and should not be counterposed to so-called "development". We are bombarded with chemicals in our food, water and air. We are assailed by poisons at work, at home and in our communities. In our hands, technology will be used for human progress; in the hands of capitalists, it is used to plunder our world. The destruction of the once-mighty Murray-Darling river system, the mobilisation of megatonnes of salt which threatens not only agriculture but many rural towns (and, in time, cities); the lunacy of open-cut and acid leaching uranium mines; the huge volume of asbestos released from decaying cement sheeting and insulation - these are disasters which may take centuries to rectify, even in a socialist Australia.
"Capitalism" and "sustainability" are mutually exclusive concepts. Only socialism is sustainable
Animal rights
While supplementing and eventually replacing live animal exports for meat production with Australian frozen processed meat exports, subsidising the creation of a market for feral animal products within Australian and internationally, including non-meat production live camel etc exports.
Population/immigration
The fear that immigrants will be used as cheap labour should be countered by recruiting them to unions and insisting that they be paid the same as other workers doing the same job.
In recent years, with the rise of the environmental movement, there has been a rise of environmental arguments for limiting immigration. Those who put forward these views argue that population growth is the main cause of environmental problems. Hence they say that limiting population growth is the key to saving Australia's environment. Immigration restrictions will supposedly enable Australians to have a good environment, even if the environment deteriorates in the rest of the world.
Those advocating these views want Australians to have a relatively privileged environment compared to the rest of the world.
Some environmental problems (e.g. global warming) can only be solved on a world scale. Limiting immigration to Australia won't help with these problems.
Other problems occur on a national scale (e.g. water shortage). But this does not mean that population control is the only or the best solution.
Australia's problems with water have little to do with population. Most water is used in agriculture. And since most agricultural products are sold on the world market, Australia's population has very little effect on the amount of water used.
A lot of water is wasted in irrigated agriculture. Water evaporates or soaks into the soil from open channels before it reaches the crops. These channels should be replaced with pipes.
Rice and cotton production in semi-desert areas uses enormous amounts of water. Production of these crops should be cut back and replaced by more suitable crops.
Asylum seekers
End the Liberal and Labor bipartisan policy of keeping refugees out of under the guise of attacking “people smuggling” and “border security”. Ending this policy would include the following measures:
a.Abolish the concept of a “safe third country” which is used to screen out those who would otherwise be assessed as refugees;
b.Return Christmas Island, Ashmore and Cartier islands and Cocos (Keeling) islands to Australia's migration zone, thus enabling asylum seekers arriving on these Australian territories to have the same rights as asylum seekers who arrive on the Australian mainland;
c.Immediately resettle all UNHCR-assessed refugees stranded in Indonesia and Malaysia, neither of which is a signatory to the UN refugee convention;
d.End the deals with the Indonesian, Malaysian and Sri Lankan governments to stop refugees coming to Australia under the guise of “stopping people smuggling”. End the practice of giving financial aid to the Sri Lankan navy to stop Tamil asylum seekers leaving Sri Lanka.
e.Abolish the legislation that criminalises people smuggling.
f.End offshore processing
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The Wikileaks Party
Asylum seekers
In the Senate, the WikiLeaks Party will:
-Demand full access to asylum seekers held in detention for media, NGOs, and human rights organisations and agencies.
-Demand government accountability over treatment of asylum seekers, including support for:
Reversal of the Rudd Government’s PNG arrangement.
Processing of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by the Australian government.
A cap of 45 days in immigration detention for any asylum seeker, for initial health and security checks, with any extension requiring judicial approval.
Requiring the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) to report to Parliament every 6 months on its case load, processes, results, and the health of detainees.
Repeal of the excision of Australian territories from the migration zone.
-Demand accountability in the assessment of asylum claims, including:
Opposing any legislative change to restrict or obfuscate the legal definition of a refugee.
Ensuring the Refugee Review Tribunal is respected and adequately resourced as a judicial body, able to assess facts independently and free from executive influence.
Supporting measures to subject ASIO security assessments to comprehensive and expedient judicial review, including rights of appeal for asylum seekers.
-Support measures to stem the flow of asylum seekers at the source, by working towards a foreign policy based on human rights and international law, averting conflict from the outset.
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Note that Mr Abbott's 2010 policy on population growth still amounted to wanting to have his cake and eat it, in the sense of wanting 'sustainability' but growth at the same time. He does say, however, that "Australia needs a population that our services can satisfy, our infrastructure can support, our environment can sustain, our society can embrace, and our economy can employ." Unfortunately he seems to want to leave the judgement of what this is up to the productivity commission, which seems to be entirely incompetent to assess ecological sustainability. Will Mr Abbott toe the line of his political promoter, the Murdoch Press, by keeping Australian targeted for continuing overpopulation, or will he use his big majority to carve out something more democratic? Clive Palmer, probably correctly, described Abbott as a B.A. Santamariaist" on Q & A tonight.
A New South Wales lawyer, Philip Howell, has written a brilliant new democratic strategy to decide from the local level upwards, how big we the people want Australia's population to be. As a population sociologist who compares international systems on this matter, I am really impressed and can only encourage everyone to support this man's remarkable contribution to our democracy and wellbeing. Look at his site for more detail on reforming our constitution.
The original site, along with the reasons for the proposal is to be found here: 
Thoughts on David Suzuki’s observation that Canada is FULL. Now is the opportune moment to say that on this issue, Dr. David Suzuki is right.
Monash University's Dr. Bob Birrell of Monash University Centre for Population and Urban Research spoke at the Sustainable Population Australia AGM on July 20, 2013 to a conference center packed to standing room only. The speaker was retained for questions until long after the end of the talk. "It was chilling the way Dr Birrell calmly and factually revealed the deep globalised shit we are in. It just doesn’t make sense at all. If only the public understood what is being done to them and their children...not to mention our environment." Videos by Steven Armstrong.
Unbeknown to most of those commenting on the numbers of 457 visas outside the EMA (Enterprise Migration Agreement) issue, as part of Doha round of trade negotiations, the Labor Government processed and negotiated away Australia’s rights to apply labour-market testing to temporary overseas workers in the 457 visa program.
The Greens are at the crossroads as a political party — should they focus on the wider concerns of the electorate, or should they stick to environmentalism? For instance, the humanitarian crying out for the suffering of refugees needs to be focused on what drives people to become refugees, like our engagement in unjust wars, environmental damage and over-population. Dr Peter Cock says they need to stay green. [Comment from Candobetter.net editor: Some of us here think the Greens need to rebrand if they don't become green, but we appreciate the discussion in this article, which targets our concerns.]
What's wrong with the Canadian Environmental Movement? Why don't Canadian environmental organisations protest about the huge impact of successive government's policies to promote mass immigration to Canada? The six million more people imported to Canada since 1991 would account for four times as much GHG emissions as the Alberta tar sands project. Overpopulation is the number one issue that multiplies every other impact. Why is this message of the original promoter of Earth Day forgotten today?
5000 Singaporeans demonstrated Feb 18, 2013 against mass migration blaming influx for infrastructure strains, record-high housing and transport costs and competition for jobs. Government plans for even higher immigration have been greated with cynicism, distress and mass protest. Three video-links inside, two indie-media.
Julianne Bell (Protectors of Public Land Victoria) and Jill Quirk (Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) Victoria and Tasmanian Branches) met with Kelvin Thomson last week for advice on contacting Federal Election candidates regarding population and urban planning. They are very pleased to see that he has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Trade.
In November 2012 an astonishing 47.7 million Americans were receiving taxpayer funded food stamps but the United States government still imports over 1million immigrants a year - and those are the legal ones.
A left-wing environmentalist group opposed to all forms of racism and xenophobia has been able to get a national immigration referendum on the ballot in Switzerland.
The Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) called on Health Minister David Davis to urgently direct public hospitals to increase their intake of recently graduated nurses from Australian universities after it was revealed 805 nursing and midwifery graduates have missed out on a graduate year place next year. Up to 40% of local graduate nurses and midwives are excluded from employment in our hospitals.Shamefully, hospitals are importing foreign nurses and denying locally born and trained nurses an entry year as graduates (often referred to as an intern year).
Vancouver’s young generation embraces higher density: “Micro suites” planned for Vancouver-area development.
According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, at 30 June 2010, an estimated 566 815 New Zealand citizens were present in Australia. Total departures to Australia were a record 53,900 departures, offset by14,000 arrivals from Australia.
Tim Murray opines on free lunches, Canada as an international flophouse, the Republican manufacture and marketing of moral hallucinogens, and the notion of manifest destiny in the light of the laws of thermodynamics [you can't have your cake and eat it], as he listens to the US GOP (Republican) Convention.
Australia and Canada are in a race to the bottom to dig up all their minerals. They are importing workers and failing to train their own. Their politicians are caught up in the myth of sustainable economic growth. "The tar sands are the engine of that growth. And we'll want top dollar for what we export because the thirst for tax revenue is insatiable. We'll want the Americans to compete with the Chinese for the privilege of burning our bounty of black death. No wonder then that the support for continued mass immigration is bipartisan. We are in a big hurry to get that resource out of the ground and get it shipped out ASAP---so we bringing in migrant labour like mad to satisfy a "shortage" in skilled labour that we assume to exist because we have never conducted a proper inventory nor seriously tried to train our own people."
During the high immigration Howard era- the fuss about the boats was a smokescreen for the fact that we were getting a lot of extra government induced totally legal non- refugee immigration which was putting pressure on absolutely everything- environment, roads, housing etc. . Howard was a high population PM whist pretending to be jealously protecting Australia’s borders. This hypocrisy and the same game still goes on with Julia Gillard although without “children overboard”.
The disingenuous who cannot refute your arguments often resort to sleight-of-hand alterations in terminology to make their case. Conflations are their stock in trade..... Lets not let our opponents get away with it.
This delightful cartoon, by Marco Marilungo Pictor, depicts a conflated Pinocchio, apparently overwhelmed by his own complexity, under the somewhat calculating regard of his inventor, which so seemed to suit this topic that I purchased it from
Although First Nations are still dealing with the adverse effects of Colonization and Residential Schools, a new threat looms on the horizon. As Statistics Canada figures imply, immigration could likely be the next great obstacle that Canada's First People have to overcome in the fight to improve their lives.
In her Quarterly Essay piece, "Great Expectations," Laura Tingle loads a gun with a big bullet that she never shoots - which I thought any writer knew was a no-no. She says that "constant mass migration" " more than anything else" pushed the Australian economy and the population through waves of rapid change. The whole time I was reading her essay I was waiting for the gun to go off and for Detective Tingle to say two obvious things ... 
It is a Canada where the unimaginable becomes real and the impossible becomes possible. They’re here! They’re here I tell you! Why can’t you see the Digital Generation has been stolen and replaced by replicas who look like real Canadians but are in fact programmed to follow an anti-Canadian agenda? 
The growing Somali community in the UK are going back on extended holdidays to Somalia - the country they claimed in the first place is so dangerous they want asylum. Female genital mutilation is also an issue.
Tim Murray says that bankers and politicians cooperate to promote high population growth and so-called ethnic diversity, but in doing so, they have turned their backs on most of the electorate. They may be kissing babies in public, but they are not safeguarding those babies' futures.
In order for Australia to maintain the proportion of the population aged 65 and over at present levels, enormous numbers of immigrants would be required, starting in 1998 at 200 000 per annum, rising to 4 million per annum by 2048 and to 30 million per annum by 2098. By the end of next century with these levels of immigration, our population would have reached almost one billion.
Both sides of parliament are saying that the problem is asylum seekers dying at sea as they attempt to reach Australia. Other groups claim that we are "racist" and "xenophobic" for being heartless, and that we have the capacity for an open-door approach of the Greens. There are probably millions, if not billions of impoverished, persecuted peoples who see Australia as a "rich" country and an ideal soft target for resettlement. This is despite the pressure on jobs, housing, infrastructure, food security and environmental concerns. If we need to make a deal with Malaysia, or Indonesia, we should be free to do so. The solution is to discard our alliance with the UN Refugee Convention.
Canada suffers from a cargo-cult mentality. To listen to Canadian federal leaders speak of their ambitions of boosting our immigration intake from its absurdly high level of a quarter million migrants a year to 1% of the country’s population level one would think that Canada is the Garden of Eden. A tropical cornucopia needing only greater input of cheap labour and capital to liberate a treasure trove of resources.
Some Canadians have suggested evacuating 40 million Japanese citizens to Canada because they believe it is so empty. Let's play the conventional game of comparing population densities. How "spacious" is Canada really?See also, 
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