From The Australian today:
Deepening divisions over immigration and racism threaten to shatter Australia’s acceptance of new migrants according to a disturbing study revealing a “polarisation” in attitudes that will shape a growing fight over multiculturalism and free speech.
High levels of discrimination are making it harder for migrants to settle, exposing some to property damage and physical attack, while their trust in key institutions is declining with each year they are in the country.
But a Monash University survey of 10,000 people finds some Australians are hardening against the national ethnic mix, with 19 per cent of third-generation citizens saying “too many immigrants” was what they liked least about their own country.
With Pauline Hanson pressing for zero net immigration and the union movement campaigning against skilled-work visas, the nation faces a growing debate on the migrant intake, which has shrunk from 300,000 annually seven years ago to a forecast 175,000 this year.
The root problem is not Pauline Hanson nor the union movement nor the loon pond and its irrelevant push to free up race hate speech, it is the people ponzi that uses the migration intake to juice headline GDP growth and disguise falling standards of living.
I am a 100% supporter of multi-cultural Australia, but if you want it to be sustainable then it must work to lift living standards for the existing population not divide it along lines of class and access to housing.
That, of course, means governments must work much harder and smarter to deliver prosperity via reform instead of just stuffing our major cities full of new people in a vain attempt to support demand (and property prices) over the electoral cycle.
It also means that our governments must invest in quality infrastructure to support the new arrivals, rather than allowing bottlenecks and congestion to develop, as occurs currently.
Besides, what’s wrong with Australia having “a growing debate on the migrant intake”? We live in a democracy after all, and we deserve to have a say on the merits of marching towards a ‘Big Australia’.
