dotty

Immigration minister Phillip Ruddock just on TV discussing the results of Immo Poll.

Should Oz take more immigrants.

85% NO

15% YES

Very interesting tho were his comments (which echoed mine yesterday) that he felt most Australans do not understand why OZ even needs immigrants. They do not understand the financial benefits of Immigration to OZ.

105,000 immigrants a year (give or take 5000) was his projected intake for the next four years. However I get the distinct feeling more would happen if aussies were more receptive and knowledable on the issue.

The biggest source of immigrants to OZ was the UK. South Africa also up there.

Very interesting tho were his comments that encouraging immigrants out of the cities into rural or courntry areas was now being encouraged.

Bad press that immigration pushed up house prices was dismissed. (Obvious factors that aussies lack of trust in the sharemarket, and superannuation which goes backwards, plus lack of land, overcrowding in cities, low interest rates are real reasons in my opinion).

So there you have it hot off the press. Thanks to PB for bringing up another useful topic.

chippy

85% say no. Thats a pretty damning result for us wannabe immos.

Slater

Perhaps you should all leave and give the country back to the indigenous people,

Slater

welshpom

The result would be the same/similar if they asked the question in Britain, however 85% of Brits would not have ill-feelings to an Aussie or Kiwi who has emigrated to the UK.

In the nearly 3 months I've been out here I've had nothing but smiles, curiosity and encouragement from the Aussies I've talked to.

I reckon the 85% is a reflection of what Aussies think of third-world immigrants and illegal immigrants, and that they are ignorant of their own immigration policy.

Pollyana

A lot of Aussies I have spoken to have expressed surprise when they find out how complex it is to get in to Oz, even on a partner visa.
Equally, they are surprised by things like the fact that while Australia has such stringent medical checks, a lot of UK politicians and civil liberty groups are still arguing against them being introduced over here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3121783.stm

Kiwipaul

I've been out here for 10 years and I've never experienced any discrimanation against Brits and nobody could mistake my accent for anything but British.

Carol in Oz

Would have to agree with that.
I was suprised also to discover how hard it is to get here now, had no idea. No one here has a problem with migrants that are hard working and WANT to fit in, some nationalities come here and dont. Easier for the Brits the language and culture the same and nearly every second person descended from UK family. But we do however have a lot of migrants come here, maybe under different programmes, that never work and have lived on the system for years thats what people here dont like. We're told its a tolerant society here but maybe some of us are not as tolerant as we could be.
Could 85% be a fear factor?

pommie bastard

Fine tell that my mate who got knocked back from the fire service here 8 times ( though he was a fireman in the UK) ,
until he took the WA fire service to court for racism , he pointed out the service employed no Poms as full time firemen at the time.
My wife was singled out as a Pom nurse ( shes a Scot)at the first hospital she worked at , was tired of anti-Pom remarks.

pommie bastard

Australia takes people from 160 different countries and refugees under a UN agreement , who says Poms are not refugees, only 60% who get in have skills.




Another serve

LESS than a month ago WA Governor John Sanderson gave the people of this State a serve about their attitude towards "refugees". I see he's at it again.

I suppose he is referring to those people who decided to circumvent our immigration policies by cherry-picking their way through several safe countries where they could have sought asylum, destroyed their papers in Indonesia and lobbed onto our shores courtesy of people smugglers to find themselves still remaining in our detention centres because they choose to launch appeal after appeal if their refugee claims are found to be unsuccessful.

I would like to see our State Governor address the concerns of ordinary, hardworking, long-suffering and overtaxed West Australians who pay for his generous salary, instead of taking up the baton for those who arrive here any which way and who are assured of free medical and dental treatment, education and other benefits as soon as they land, benefits that are denied to most of our citizens.

At the rate he's going, Lt-Gen. Sanderson will take the crown for vice-regal political correctness away from former governor-general Sir William Deane.
JOSEPH WINTERBINE, Nollamara.Perth

pommie bastard

True the same fear that is rampant in the UK.

Wake up to real world

WA GOVERNOR Lt-Gen. John Sanderson, on the invitation of well-known republican Janet Holmes aà Court to address a Day of Ideas forum, has again criticised the Australian people for their attitude to refugees. It was only last month he launched an attack on this very same issue.

According to the latest report (1/8), accompanied by a touching picture of him gazing out the window with his hand at his heart, the speakers at this forum consisted of academics, republicans, politicians, elitists and others of the chattering classes. Interestingly, it coincided with the visit of Prime Minister John Howard.

If Lt-Gen. Sanderson took a trip to some shopping centres in our working-class suburbs and sought the opinions of a variety of people regarding the never-ending tax and rate increases they're being subjected to, with levies slapped on everything under the sun, he would get a mighty wake-up call.

People everywhere are greatly concerned about the water crisis, threats of power cuts, the spiralling cost of housing, as well as the lengthy waiting lists for beds in our public hospitals. They are also well aware that the people who enter Australia without any form of identification receive free and instantaneous medical and dental treatment, with welfare payments.

It is ironic that they are called "refugees", when according to UNHCR, a "refugee" seeks asylum at the first safe haven. The people who came to Australia on the boats had bypassed several such destinations before arriving here.

The Governor can afford to be "expansive and embracing", unlike those who fund his lifestyle.
GRAEME CAMPBELL, Kalgoorlie. (Ex- MP) WA

Kiwipaul

They obviously mentioned your name sometime during the interview, that would be the kiss of death for any potential employee.

pommie bastard

Get a real job Pal then pass comment instead of wind.

dotty

What has to be understood is that OZ is not a big on News/ current affairs type stuff. I have to say it again, most Aussies simply would not even understand why a country takes immigrants. Most base their knowledge of immigration on a few media pictures of refugees on shonky boats.

The news here will often start with who won a swimming championship, (ironic the amount spent on winning medals here when majority of pop are overweight). To find out news I usually watch BBC CBN or Biz Asia. Most here would never have heard of them let alone watch them.

Phillip Ruddock admits ignorance is a major factor in the result, people here need a lot more education on world events, problem is OZ media is very limited in content.