It is a strange world indeed when I have no choice but to agree with Tony Abbott:
Good on my colleague senator Dean Smith for proposing a population inquiry to consider all the consequences of such rapid population growth and what may be done to ensure that immigration numbers work for Australians and not just for newcomers. I hope he gets the numbers in the Senate to make this inquiry happen because that would help the government to get off the ultra-high immigration hook that it should never have been on.
As someone born overseas, I can hardly be anti-immigration. My problem is not with immigrants, all of whom chose our country and almost all of whom make a fine contribution. It’s not with immigration itself which, since 1788, has always been at the heart of modern Australia. My problem is with the rate of immigration that’s double the average of the Howard years, and that’s putting millions of Australians’ lives under strain.
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