It is a peculiarity of Australian policy-making that a decision with major import for our society, economy and environment -- namely the size of our annual intake of permanent migrants -- is made in virtual secrecy and announced in an obscure line of the annual budget papers and an equally obscure line of a Departmental press release. The decision is important because our prescribed annual migrant intake (last year it was set at 190,000) makes a … [Read more...]
Why is Labor pushing a Big Australia?
[The following is based on a letter sent to Bill Shorten, Chris Bowen and Senator Penny Wong] Why is Labor still pushing the ‘Big Australia’ barrow – as evidenced by recent speeches by Chris Bowen at the Crescent Institute in September 2016 and Senator Penny Wong at the National Press Club on 8 November? For most of this century, Australia has had the second highest population growth rate in the OECD and 2.5 times the OECD average. Since … [Read more...]
Guy Rundle on population and immigration
Quite a few people on the 'progressive left' have a cosmopolitan outlook and are supportive of universal human rights. This often leads to something approaching an 'open borders' position when it comes to encouragement of immigration. In parallel, many on the left also reject analyses of 'overpopulation' and instead sheet home all our environmental and other ills to overconsumption and inequality. It is my contention that those on the left who … [Read more...]
Sustainable Development Commission to replace the Productivity Commission? It is past time to move beyond the Ptolemaic views of neoclassical economics
In a recent article on the The Conversation web site, several senior policy researchers have put forward a proposal to scrap the Productivity Commission and replace it with a Sustainable Development Commission . The central core of their proposal, however, is not just about renaming an institution -- it is about a paradigm change in how we think about economic growth and development: from the current neoclassical economic paradigm to a new … [Read more...]
Heading towards a big Australia? Comments on the Productivity Commission Draft Report on Migrant Intake
In a previous post I discussed my support for population stabilization in Australia and included some stuff from my submission (and others') to the Productivity Commission's public inquiry into Migrant Intake into Australia. Well, the Commission issued a Draft Report in November 2015 and invited further public comment. The Draft Report clearly acknowledges that "Australia's immigration policy is inextricably linked to population policy" (p. 117) … [Read more...]
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