The actual intake from overseas (including the many temp categories) was around 800,000 in 2008-09 according to an article in a newspaper. Our population is growing at a faster pace than India or Indonesia as a result of the Howard govt policies which have been strengthened by Rudd's govt.
The economy would have been in recession in the last two quarters if not for the fact that all the new entrants need to be fed and housed and this creates the appearance that the economy is growing, but in actual fact income per head of population has been falling.
Many housewifes and young people are being displaced from the lower paying jobs, eg working in supermarkets etc by the new entrants. In actual fact the lower income earners are having their wages suppressed by the massive influx.
The social infrastructure requirements for this influx is huge and and a major reason why Australia is borrowing around 5% pus per annum of GDP each year from overseas and selling our assets. In effect the policies are designed to ensure that ownership of Australia is transferred overseas in order to satisfy lots of interest groups (including big business and overseas multinationals which like the cheap labour concept).
Lots more could be written on this subject, but I am trying to have a mental breake from the poop to preserve what little sanity I have left.
