Immigration has become the convenient answer to every difficult question in Australian politics.
asserted
Immigration → become → politics
Cost of living hurting?
asserted
Cost → hurt → living
Roads congested?
asserted
Roads → congest → ?
It is politically convenient but it saves us from confronting the harder causes of these problems.
asserted
it → save → problems
Migration adds to housing demand but it didn’t create decades of inadequate supply, poor planning, tax settings that encouraged property speculation, or governments failing to build enough social and affordable housing.
asserted
governments → add → housing
Nor did migrants cause workers’ wages to fall behind the rising cost of living.
asserted
wages → cause → living
Of course Australia needs a properly managed migration program, matched by housing, infrastructure and services.
asserted
Australia → need → housing
But the increasingly shrill competition to see who can promise the biggest migration cut is no substitute for serious policy.
asserted
who → see → policy
Watching mainstream politicians follow One Nation down this populist road, rather than explain a more complicated truth, is deeply disappointing.
asserted
politicians → watch → truth
Australians deserve solutions, not scapegoats – and scapegoats seem to be all One Nation has to offer.
asserted
Nation → deserve → solutions
Ross Gittins shows our opposition to immigration is irrational, ignoring the benefits that migrants bring.
asserted
migrants → show → that
He sees this opposition as “primordial and deeply instinctive”.
asserted
He → see → opposition
I suggest it is xenophobic and immoral.
asserted
it → suggest → ?
It hurts our migrants, their children and grandchildren.
asserted
It → hurt → migrants
For once, Ross Gittins has confused rather than clarified things for me.
asserted
Gittins → confuse → me
He acknowledges that the majority have always opposed large-scale immigration, which governments have always espoused.
asserted
governments → acknowledge → which
After all, many years of “skilled migration” has yielded what?
asserted
years → yield → what
Could it be (Gittins mentions this, too) that skilled immigration has made skills training irrelevant?
uncertain
training → mention → this
And that population increase has increased demand for stuff (and profits) and therefore made investment in better production methods unnecessary, so adding to the lobbying of local- and overseas-owned businesses for more and more immigration?
asserted
investment → increase → immigration
Governments don’t need a population policy; they have an immigration policy – more is better.
asserted
more → need → policy
A lot of us disagree.
asserted
lot → disagree → us
With the greatest of respect to Ross Gittins, he appears to be offering no alternative other than to just keep getting bigger.
asserted
he → appear → alternative
How many people, from wherever in the world, do we have to plug in at the bottom to look after the top?
asserted
we → have → top
Will we know when too many are enough?
asserted
many → know → ?
Will we increasingly have to rely on desalination for our basic water needs?
asserted
we → have → needs
It would seem that it is an innate quality of all species to keep growing until we exceed our resources but in the natural world that usually doesn’t end well for individual species!
asserted
that → seem → species
NSW One Nation leader Mike Newman promises a “palpable difference” because One Nation candidates would be less susceptible to corruption because they “are not former politicians” (“Coalition defectors eye One Nation”, October 14).
asserted
defectors → promise → Nation
This proposition seems to come from an upside-down world where removing independent scrutiny and handing greater discretionary power to ministers somehow reduces the risk of corruption.
asserted
removing → seem → corruption
The real effect of One Nation’s policy would be to give the mining industry carte blanche.
asserted
effect → give → policy
Curiously, Newman says nothing about the obvious risk of those politicians feeling beholden to One Nation mega-donor Gina Rinehart.
asserted
politicians → say → Rinehart
The argument that politicians can be trusted with fewer safeguards because they lack political experience is absurd.
asserted
they → trust → experience
Ignorance and inexperience do not inoculate you against corruption.
asserted
Ignorance → inoculate → corruption
I liked the description by state political correspondent Michael McGowan of a slew of former Liberals finding a refuge in One Nation as a “conga line”.
asserted
I → like → line
It reminds me of Mark Latham’s use of the term.
asserted
It → remind → term
Looks like the desperate and dateless finding someone to like them.
asserted
desperate → look → them
Tony Sullivan, Islington
It may be getting hard for renters but it’s turning into a picnic for one-eyed rent-seekers.
uncertain
it → get → seekers
One Nation certainly places the family first!
asserted
Nation → place → family
My present disgruntlement with my party of choice, Labor, at state level, doesn’t affect my support for Penny Wong’s foreign policy rhetoric.
asserted
disgruntlement → affect → rhetoric
My contempt for those of our elected representatives who are apologists for Putin’s war against democracy knows no bounds (“Greens split over Ukraine as senator breaks ranks”, October 14).
asserted
senator → elect → ranks
Perhaps Sarah Hanson-Young might defect to Labor.
uncertain
Young → defect → Labor
…and 60 more, not listed.
The Aporia
