Australia is in the midst of a water crises, housing crises, infrastructure crises, too much of unskilled labour crises, etc. Instead of having Australians trained with a work skill, they decide they want to increase the immigration rate to 300,000 immigrants per year. Not just skilled labour but unskilled labour, using the lie of shortage of labour.

A shortage of labour is when everyone who wants a job can walk down the road and come back with a job on their first day of trying. Then, they can go to any other employer, get an offer of higher income and change over at their leisure.

This is not the case though as they say that it takes the average unemployed active job seeker anyway up to three years to find a job that may only consist of short hours and a very low wage. In fact, majority of those on the unemployment benefit do work such low paid work and still need welfare to survive.

Our cities are busting at the seams, unable to cope with the current population level, just as the nation's Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner said just this morning on Channel 2, the 'Insiders' program.

I think the problem is lack of skilled labour here. Thanks to the Howard government which dismantled the previous Labor government's skills training programmes we have a lack of skilled labour. Howard's solution was to allow employers to apply for short term work visas for skilled workers from overseas. But that didn't alleviate the skills shortage. Part of the inflation problem we have at the moment is due to capacity constraints. One of those capacity constraints is skilled labour. A lack of skilled labour sees the laws of supply and demand kick in and up goes the price of skilled labour and we get an inflation spiral.

So, the Rudd Government is going to have an immigration scheme to bring in permanent and temporary skilled labour. That should help. But they also need to bring back the Keating government's skills training programmes.

diuretic, you need to learn your facts or stop lying.

The 457 Visa system was introducted by the Hawke/Keating Labor Government, not the Howard Government.

The skills crises was created by the Hawke/Keating Government who did all they could to make it far too expensive and difficult to employ an apprentice. They introduced the 12 month Traineeship system which most employers did not recognise when presented to them at job interviews. I even listened to one employer back then tell me that they only do Labor's traineeship program because it was affordable even though they would not accept it from an job applicant.

Labor destroyed the apprenticeship program and put effort into universities. Having so many school leavers holding a Bachelor of Anything while few people left with a trades qualification left Australia ruined. Small business stopped hiring Year 10 school leavers for unskilled labour such as working behind a counter at a newsagent, instead opting for the univerisity graduate.

Imagine attending university for three to four years, only able to work at the local newsagent or KFC or McDonalds with a university degree?

This is the work of the Hawke/Keating Labor Government.

Keating's skills training programs was given to the union movement and to get such skills training, one had to hold financial membership with a union. Those skills training programs that were actually given to the unemployed were not recognised by one single employer, including the unions.

They should also bring in some English teachers to go with the skills training programs so that Aussies drop the "u" from words such as "labor" and the extra "m" & "e" at the end of words like "programs." You guys really need to become more 'Merican in your approach to language. You know, fry up some sow's ears & fetch an RC cola with peanuts & plant yerself down for some Sunday afternoon NASCAR.

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Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart

Oh gosh! I wouldn't wish "Mericanizing" on other countries. I'm just trying to imagine what Australians would act, sound and look like. Scarey stuff! (^:

I saw this article and thought it would be nice to see how other countries deal with their immigration, since that is a big issue in America. But you are saying the problem immigration is addressing to the shortfall of skilled labor in the country. It is (allegedly) unskilled labor in America. However, the flip side of the coin type of immigration problem we have is corporations find it cheaper to hire non Americans into skilled labor positions. So our total immigration problem can be said to have one high profile side with unskilled labor and one low profile side wth skilled labor.

When you add our outsourcing jobs to other countries, this is really a problem of America business and corporations not investing in Americans. That is a huge problem with the overall economy.

Spot on, mate!

On one side, we had a Labor Government who made labour costs expensive and they made training people into having a tangible workskill, too expensive and too difficult to maintain.

On the other side are the employers who opted to have imported labour over training Australia's school leavers because it saves them money. This thinking has made Australia a basket case where we can't even fill positions for plumber. Once upon a time we had far too many of the buggers.

With professionals, we have treated them so poorly that they refuse to stay in the profession or they leave Australia where they earn a higher income, pay much less tax and are treated with respect.

I was only joking. But actually, I believe Monty Python already covered Australian rednecks in their "Bruce" skits.

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Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart

I missed those. I really like Monty Python. I'll have to look for them.

And I was only joking also.

Lying? Charming.

Yeah we stuck with the Brit spelling but to be fair the Brits adopted that spelling AFTER 1776. We didn't get going until 1778. You have the original spelling, because the Brits went all European and adopted the French spelling for certain words to sound posh