Kevin Rudd has a vision of a "big Australia".
The population boom can only increase Australia’s prosperity and reputation as a world leader in business.
That’s the message Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants to send to the people of Australia in the ongoing debate about population and immigration. This last week has seen a series of measures taken by the government to silence their critics and quell the fears of the people over a rise in population.
There was the appointment of the new Population Minister Tony Burke, who will oversee the government’s infrastructure plans. There have also been clampdowns on the illegal immigrants arriving by boat to Australia. Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans announced, in a clear message to the world, that Australia would no longer process refugee applications from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The tough new clampdown is hoped to reduce the number of illegal boat people who risk their lives to try and get into Australia.
With Christmas Island full to capacity and an election just around the corner, the government are keen to be seen to be acting on what many people consider to be an immigration crisis. The population boom that has catapulted Australia to one of the world’s fastest growing nations is also largely blamed on immigration.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd knows that the population debate is a hot topic in Australian politics right now and he needs to show the Australian people that far from being out of control, the government is successfully managing the population at sustainable levels.
The mining boom in Western Australia is no doubt helping Australia’s economy and strong ties with China and India – the leading buyers of Australia’s minerals. Skilled workers are desperately needed in Western Australia and migrants are being drafted in to help with demand – too many the opposition claim, but immigration legislation is tighter than ever before with the government cracking down on loopholes that previously allowed overseas students to apply for permanent visas once they were in Australia. The truth is that migrants also create jobs as well as filling them – after all they need housing, they use utilities, they spend money in Australia.
But Australia is treading a fine line, many fear a population boom will damage Australia’s fragile eco-system. It remains to be seen if Rudd will have convinced the voting electorate any different.Â
If you are interested in emigrating to Australia and think you have the skills that are needed, look at our guide to Australian visas which includes updated regional critical skills lists.
Love Australia? Let us keep you informed...
- Join the Embrace Australia community today. Have your questions answered by our experts, start your own blog, get vital migration information and gain valuable insight from those who have already made the journey.
- Subscribe to our RSS Feed and have all our daily news and features delivered straight to your news reader.
- Join our mailing list -
3 Responses to “Australia’s Population and Immigration Debate Hots Up”
Comment by Vivienne — April 11, 2010 @ 6:37 am
“The population boom can only increase Australia’s prosperity and reputation as a world leader in business”. Population growth has many implications and may dimensions. Just focusing on economics and business interests ignors the social, environmental, long-term and moral aspects. What different groups want is not necessarily feasible, sustainable or viable. Already in Australia we are exterminating our wildlife species at world-famous rates, and violence is increasing in our cities. Our spacious suburbs are being squeezed by high-rise developments, and green wedges are being used by developers as resources for more profits. There are already massive and sprawling cities on our planet, and by covering our own fertile areas with housing estates, roads and businesses we could be losing a great potential to provide food for some of the inevitable starving whose numbers will increase as the global population grows out of control. Runaway population growth needs to be confronted on local and global levels, but we should be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Comment by Steve Blake — April 11, 2010 @ 11:29 am
It’s frightening that a man gets a carpet ride to power, swept into office by a doting media, and suddenly that man knows everything about every facet of Australian life. Kevin Rudd is the problem. He came to power by ridiculing the work done by John Howard’s government, only to make a bigger mess of immigration, presiding over a massive blow-out in illegal arrivals and now making grand statements of freezing asylum applications. The future of our nation is not Kevin Rudd’s to decide. It is our nation, every citizen. Not an ALP nation, or a leftist nation, or a socialistic nation. The stupidity of the new “minister for population” was evident immediately that he went on the attack against the coalition. He is planted there to enforce the Rudd line and to provide the illusion that we will get some say! It is Rudd’s 20/20 charade all over again. Absolute deception.
Comment by Payton Cloer — September 1, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
Wait so what is the population of Australia?