... no mercy for homeowners ..., page-21

morph, I don't know what the right answer is but I do know that regulation is needed; and regulation comes in degrees. It doesn't mean total prohibition just as it doesn't mean total freedom to assault the population financially and socially, at will. Regulation is great when it is well thought-out. So even in the issues of where, when and how, there's room for regulation. It is applied as we speak. I can't build a chemical factory inside a residential area just as I can't build a forty-story house inside a concentrated industrial area. There are regulations that deal with the "where" as well as the "when" and the "how." What I mean is that perhaps these regulations ought to be reviewed.

And yttrium, I think it's unsustainable for many reasons, one of which is the sheer need for a broad workforce and a wide consumer base. You've used the words "teeming hoards." That's disingenuous, to my mind. I have no intentions of advocating a massive intake of migrants but, on the contrary, an immigration program which will take into account all aspects of our life in Oz, including its ecological needs. Nor am I advocating for a "large" as you suggest, population; simply a bit larger than what we've got now.

As for armies, I prefer to do completely away with them.

I agree wholeheartedly that we need a skilled and educated population but that too plays into the hands of a consumer-based society. Education -both technical AND academic is far too expensive at the moment and, perhaps (of course I could be wrong) one way of dealing with this expense is by building more educational institutions and technical colleges which will need to be funded. A reasonable immigration could serve well in that. Whitlam had a great way out of this educational dilemma but he was cut down for it and I cannot see any return to that wonderful idea in the too near a future. It will be "user pay" (a lot) for, probably ever!

The larger the pop, the larger the tax base but too large a pop and there comes the point of zero sum: the earnings are diminished by the cost of maintaining those earnings and the cost to the environment.

I'm aware of all these variables and would love to know the right formula for immigration but, as well, one needs to also know that a pop. -a society- becomes stimulated by a refreshment of the population mix.