I agree with most of this bacci..... and you ask an important question that the right will not agree with.
I recall very clearly the Big Australia debate commenced before the 2004 election as John Howard complained that the country could not afford the services the Govt provides and the only means available to remedy service delivery was to increase immigration as a trigger to stimulate the economy.
this after Howard had urged Aus manufacturers to go off-shore.
I recall KRudd agreeing with this in '07 and Abbott tooling up universities by cutting their funding and telling them to bring in more foreign students to make universities independent businesses. the consequence of Abbott's move is what we now see with businesses calling for more skilled labour. this now necessitates even higher migrant numbers. this in turn has forced renters to compete with ever increasing migrants and so rising rents.
