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2010-12-23

Johns population argument misses important points

Comments on Gary Johns “We do not need sustainable population policy”, 23/12/2010, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/we-do-not-need-sustainable-population-policy/story-e6frg6zo-1225975159449

While Gary Johns has the experience as a federal government minister and has many excellent views, it appears that Gary John might need to learn some basics as well as new ideas in terms of sustainable population and immigration.

For example, the use of the contrast of Bill Gates and Thomas Malthus are just hyper because they are two extremes and are far from what most people's talks on sustainability.

Further, while he talked about many points and they may be useful, he missed one important point in terms of immigration in terms of economic growth, that is, does it improve the productivity and pay of Australian labours, besides its benefits to businesses owners?

This point should be one of the key criteria to assess the benefits and costs of immigration, higher, lower or as usual.

Any talks ignoring this point miss the biggest interest and concerns of the Australian public.

PS: the argument in terms of the costs per head of defending the country is seriously either out of date, or irrelevant, or ignorance of Australia's history. How many times we faced a serious invasion by others? On the other hand, we have fought quite a number of wars overseas at our own decisions. Alliance with the US has greatly diminished Johns’ unhelpful argument. Besides, to be able to defend the country on our own without the assistance of others, we would need a much larger population, perhaps a few times of the current size. Is that realistic, or necessary for that matter?
Another important point that I also missed in the comments above is that how Australia can prepare and foster the skilled human resources it needs, as opposed to acting as a pirate and relying on immigration. Relying on immigration is simply irresponsible and immoral!

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