Weeoo, weeoo, weeoo. The Pascometer is wailing on the population ponzi, strongly indicating that the days of mass immigration are indeed numbered:
A little after Friday lunch, the population clock on the Australian Bureau of Statistics web site will tick over to 24.5 million.
…The simplistic negative economic view of our migration program concentrates on the challenges of population growth. They seize on part of a Productivity Commission report on immigration released in September:
“High rates of immigration put upward pressure on land and housing prices in Australia’s largest cities. Upward pressures are exacerbated by the persistent failure of successive state, territory and local governments to implement sound urban planning and zoning policies.”
Those who would prefer to live under aspic only see migrants as competition for housing and jobs, not acknowledging that migrants’ contribution makes more jobs possible, that one plus one can in fact add up to more than two, that Australia’s potential is not a zero-sum game.
The anti-immigration chorus would prefer to reduce immigration rather than build the infrastructure to realise the nation’s potential. They downplay or ignore the rich rewards of our economy and culture being reinvigorated.
…When there are echoes of the appalling Trump on both sides of our politics, population milestones should be a chance to embrace optimism about this nation, for political leaders to actually show some leadership, to educate and take pride in our story, instead of cringing to court the lowest common denominator, of bowing to the narrow, the ignorant and intolerant.
Who needs evidence when you can just slap on the “racist” label!
Immigration long ago lost its economic rationale in terms of adding to national welfare – around 2011 when the mining boom ended – and has become instead the tail wagging the economic dog. During the mining boom the goal of high immigration was to contain inflation as labour supply in the economy was strained. But today we have is too much supply and all immigration does is drive up property prices, choke infrastructure, kill productivity and hammer wages, running madly above historic averages:
Flooding the labour market, lowering wages:
Adding massive strain to housing and infrastructure and lowering incumbent residents’ living standards:
For the record, MB would have no problem at all with high immigration if there was a national plan to accommodate it with appropriate investment. But there isn’t one. Nor is there one coming. We don’t have the money or leadership culture for it. What we do have is property corruption running wild, such as that on display at The Pascometer’s employer every five minutes, and a desperate rear guard action to hold prices aloft by stuffing cities full of people.
The Pascometer long ago stopped writing on investment because its contrarian value was exposed. Today that contrarian usefulness appears to have shifted to policy.
Weeoo, weeoo, weeoo.
