Those that gain the most from their cheap labour should be asked to pay to fix all the problems, and then this would not make the labour appear so cheap to them. Hence employers and multinationals should not shift the cost burden onto the backs of Australian taxpayers.
Singapore sends its foreign workers back, and it seems to work there because it is strictly enforced.
Our education system at all levels is a costly shambles, and bringing in more people simply increases the education disaster. It is not geared towards industry, but for a services consuming society, which is highly distorting.
In any case the boom we have had is the traditional crack up boom that your (and to some extent my) economic gurus Mish Shedlock and Steven Keen are writing about. This was not soundly based in any western country and a massive price will have to exacted on all. Governments should have used higher interest rates earlier in the US and across Europe (as well as Australia) to contain excess consumption. The manufacturing base should not have been out-sourced overseas, and the financial sector should have been curtailed to ensure it did not distort the economy. It is impossible to maintain an advanced society without having a manufacturing base that uses scientific and technological advancements. In the absence of manufacturing a society will regress economically to become a low value commodity producer (eg New Zealand) and in essence a colony as all the bargaining chips are with the advanced manufacturing nations.
Both the Labor and Liberal parties are responsible for the mess.
Australia's one booming sector (mining and energy) only employs about 1-2% of the workforce and all that is required for the new mining projects is to free labour from "unproductive" activities in the casino economy (including housing) rather than propping them up by direct or indirect measures.
It is standard economic theory that productive resources (including labour) move from areas of least value to those of greatest value if there are no artificial impediments, and that this results in a higher standard of living as wages are bid up. The policies of the govt (and businesses) are acting to suppress our living standards.
OK, that is as much as I can take of these issues for today.
