chicken_lipsforme wrote on Dec 21^st, 2010 at 8:36am:

The Department of Immigration website indicates that as at June 26, there were 4116, people in immigration detention. In terms of global rankings, Australia comes in at 68th in terms of refugees per 1000 inhabitants and 77th in terms of refugees per gross domestic product per capita. In real terms, this is 1.1 refugee per 1000 inhabitants and 0.6 refugees per GDP per capita.

skippy. wrote on Dec 21^st, 2010 at 8:45am:


That's outstanding Skip.
I'm sure those 4116 people will be processed in due course with some being accepted for resettlement and some not.
All other considerations aside, it's still 4116 people more than our northern neighbours.
It's also about 4000 more than Japan.

And isnt japan 20 times smaller than australia?

With 130 million people?

skippy. wrote on Dec 21^st, 2010 at 12:46pm:


"If we are already soooooooo full of people why did the Howard government offer people money via the baby bonus to have more kids?"
Because our population is/was aging fast than children were being born and would eventually lead to ONE worker having to support FIVE retirees.

"Isn't it true, according to the Howard government, that Australia is facing a negative population growth?
Were the Liberal party wrong on their assessments? and if so how do you know better?"

Yes it is true we may have negative population growth, but it doesn't neccessarily mean that immigration is a better answer than having babies. If we have more children, there is an opportunity for them to learn the job skills we will be short of in the future.
But with wholesale immigration, there is no guarantee that the people arriving will have the required skills or even the ability to learn those skills...

There's not much point in importing a dozen, 55 yr old olive farmers, when we're short of carpenters....by the time you retrain them, they'd be wanting to retire...


We have an obligation to accept and care for legitimate refugees, but that doesn't mean everyone who turns up looking for a new life and a beach front villa...

skippy. wrote on Dec 21^st, 2010 at 12:41pm:



But Japan aren't the only ones Skip.
Try buying a piece of real estate in Mexico as a non Mexican or a house in Hong Kong today.
And the world wide critisism of Japan means what exactly.
It's all about being a 0.75 out of 10 on the Giveafrackometer World Opinion Scale.
The sun will still rise over Mt Fuji in the morning Skip whether they accept more refugees or not.
Japan has their policy, and are entitled to determine their future as all individual nations are.
But that includes us too.
These countries aren't xenophobic, but they do have a vested interest in their future.

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