Open the gates to a better life
Feb 24th 2007, 10:54 pm
#1
Timelord
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Open the gates to a better life
"It makes no economic or moral sense for Western countries to favour high-skilled over low-skilled immigrants, according to Philippe Legrain. Steve Burrell reports.
Alfonso Unda cleans Sydney school classrooms for a living, rising before dawn to spend the early-morning hours wielding a vacuum. Although he brought a degree in information technology with him when he emigrated from Colombia, and used to manage 24 people at home, it's the best job he has been able to get.
Albert Munoz, from Puerto Rico, came to Australia with two degrees and has gained another - and permanent residency - in the four years he has been here, but he, too, has not found a job where he can use these qualifications.
In Tamworth, 26-year-old Malok is one of about 20 Sudanese who arrived in the town almost two years ago and who work in the local abattoirs.
They should have been a welcome addition to the workforce. Few locals want semi-skilled abattoir jobs and the company has had to import Filipinos to work there.
Yet Malok and his friends and relatives have faced resentment from some in the town and the local council attracted national attention for its decision - rescinded, under pressure, last month - to reject a Federal Government offer to be part of a one-year trial resettlement program of five Sudanese refugee families.
The litany of objections to the Sudanese presence is familiar to anyone who listens to talk-back radio. The new arrivals will take our jobs and push down wages, they say. They will sponge off welfare, commit crimes and threaten our national identity and way of life and even our national security.
These are two sides of Australia's unbalanced approach to immigration."
Full article from The Sydney Morning Herald
Alfonso Unda cleans Sydney school classrooms for a living, rising before dawn to spend the early-morning hours wielding a vacuum. Although he brought a degree in information technology with him when he emigrated from Colombia, and used to manage 24 people at home, it's the best job he has been able to get.
Albert Munoz, from Puerto Rico, came to Australia with two degrees and has gained another - and permanent residency - in the four years he has been here, but he, too, has not found a job where he can use these qualifications.
In Tamworth, 26-year-old Malok is one of about 20 Sudanese who arrived in the town almost two years ago and who work in the local abattoirs.
They should have been a welcome addition to the workforce. Few locals want semi-skilled abattoir jobs and the company has had to import Filipinos to work there.
Yet Malok and his friends and relatives have faced resentment from some in the town and the local council attracted national attention for its decision - rescinded, under pressure, last month - to reject a Federal Government offer to be part of a one-year trial resettlement program of five Sudanese refugee families.
The litany of objections to the Sudanese presence is familiar to anyone who listens to talk-back radio. The new arrivals will take our jobs and push down wages, they say. They will sponge off welfare, commit crimes and threaten our national identity and way of life and even our national security.
These are two sides of Australia's unbalanced approach to immigration."
Full article from The Sydney Morning Herald
Feb 24th 2007, 11:25 pm
#2
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Re: Open the gates to a better life
The litany of objections to the Sudanese presence is familiar to anyone who listens to talk-back radio. The new arrivals will take our jobs and push down wages, they say. They will sponge off welfare, commit crimes and threaten our national identity and way of life and even our national security.
Feb 24th 2007, 11:48 pm
#3
Timelord
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Feb 25th 2007, 1:26 am
#4
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Re: Open the gates to a better life
"It makes no economic or moral sense for Western countries to favour high-skilled over low-skilled immigrants, according to Philippe Legrain. Steve Burrell reports.
Alfonso Unda cleans Sydney school classrooms for a living, rising before dawn to spend the early-morning hours wielding a vacuum. Although he brought a degree in information technology with him when he emigrated from Colombia, and used to manage 24 people at home, it's the best job he has been able to get.
Albert Munoz, from Puerto Rico, came to Australia with two degrees and has gained another - and permanent residency - in the four years he has been here, but he, too, has not found a job where he can use these qualifications.
In Tamworth, 26-year-old Malok is one of about 20 Sudanese who arrived in the town almost two years ago and who work in the local abattoirs.
They should have been a welcome addition to the workforce. Few locals want semi-skilled abattoir jobs and the company has had to import Filipinos to work there.
Yet Malok and his friends and relatives have faced resentment from some in the town and the local council attracted national attention for its decision - rescinded, under pressure, last month - to reject a Federal Government offer to be part of a one-year trial resettlement program of five Sudanese refugee families.
The litany of objections to the Sudanese presence is familiar to anyone who listens to talk-back radio. The new arrivals will take our jobs and push down wages, they say. They will sponge off welfare, commit crimes and threaten our national identity and way of life and even our national security.
These are two sides of Australia's unbalanced approach to immigration."
Full article from The Sydney Morning Herald
Alfonso Unda cleans Sydney school classrooms for a living, rising before dawn to spend the early-morning hours wielding a vacuum. Although he brought a degree in information technology with him when he emigrated from Colombia, and used to manage 24 people at home, it's the best job he has been able to get.
Albert Munoz, from Puerto Rico, came to Australia with two degrees and has gained another - and permanent residency - in the four years he has been here, but he, too, has not found a job where he can use these qualifications.
In Tamworth, 26-year-old Malok is one of about 20 Sudanese who arrived in the town almost two years ago and who work in the local abattoirs.
They should have been a welcome addition to the workforce. Few locals want semi-skilled abattoir jobs and the company has had to import Filipinos to work there.
Yet Malok and his friends and relatives have faced resentment from some in the town and the local council attracted national attention for its decision - rescinded, under pressure, last month - to reject a Federal Government offer to be part of a one-year trial resettlement program of five Sudanese refugee families.
The litany of objections to the Sudanese presence is familiar to anyone who listens to talk-back radio. The new arrivals will take our jobs and push down wages, they say. They will sponge off welfare, commit crimes and threaten our national identity and way of life and even our national security.
These are two sides of Australia's unbalanced approach to immigration."
Full article from The Sydney Morning Herald
Also, they quote loads of people who have degrees and cannot get jobs. Why should having a degree guarantee you a job?
Feb 25th 2007, 2:36 am
#5
Timelord
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Joined: May 2006
Location: Lost in space...
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Re: Open the gates to a better life
Typical liberal hogwash. We cannot just open our borders to 3rd world migration despite what this guy says. The Spanish have built those barricades because if they didn't, Europe would be flooded. If we opened up it would be a disaster and our Childrens future would be destroyed.
Also, they quote loads of people who have degrees and cannot get jobs. Why should having a degree guarantee you a job?
Also, they quote loads of people who have degrees and cannot get jobs. Why should having a degree guarantee you a job?
The bits I found interesting were the ideas that there's not enough people coming in to do the less skilled jobs... That certainly was my experience a year or so ago in East Anglia where a couple of farmer acquaintances said they simply could not carry on if it wasn't for the East Europeans coming over to work on their land... couldn't get anyone local to do it...
With Peter Costello's comments I'm wondering whether the same is true here... And with the difficulty some skilled people have getting work in their chosen field should Australia be looking for people with less skills to move over here...? Would that be good if it meant less competition for the skilled people already here, so helping to ensure higher employment levels, and providing people to do the jobs that the local populace don't want to do...?
