Since the 1980s, neo-Liberalism has: -privatised some of our major businesses (CBA, Telstra , Qantas etc ) which were wages leaders & trade union shops . The mix of Government owned and closed union businesses meant that households of employees of these businesses could live on one wage. -Neo-Liberal Governments have made trade union membership optional in most industries -Tradies who were the wage leaders within the Trade Union movement were encouraged to morph into independant contractors by the Howard Government (both for employee & employer tax benefits) and became classified as "small businesses" -457 skilled visas oversupplied skilled labour market and hindered wage break outs. -Big business outsourcing to the 3rd world put downward wage pressure on low skilled work -Automation & business engineering ensured that there was at least 5% unemployed to cap wage increases..
And what does this have to do with immigration you might ask?
A lot, because most working class & middle class families need both parents to work to make family ends meet due to suppressed wages ( in the past our spikes in inflation has been caused by wage break outs but since Little Johnie as elected in 1997, all that changed thanks to Neo-Liberal policies .
And this, folks is why we have have 1.7 births per Aussie female ; not replacement level and hence the need for immigration
Add to that , the trend of women deferring childbearing in lieu of developing their careers and there you have it:
In summary, the driving engine of natural population growth, the working class & the middle class, need two bread winners and smaller families to live comfortable because of the overwhelming downward wage pressure caused by Neo-Liberal economc policies .
Despite Costello's baby bonus of $3K ( one for mum, one for dad & one for Australia) we still have a 1.7 births per Aussie female !
So all you anti-immigration advocates, do the hard yards under the blankets for the country and then you'll have a patriotic arguement for Australia
