one million immigrants on rudd's watch ...

Hmmm ... by the end of the Rudd Govt's first term in office nearly one million immigrants will have arrived and attained permanent residency legally ... mostly skilled and cashed up middle class out-competing our kids for jobs and housing.

Australian population has reached 22 million, ABS statistics show
From: The Australian
March 25, 2010 4:05PM

AUSTRALIA'S population ticked over 22 million in September last year but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is resisting calls to wind back overseas migration.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released an update on the nation's population, which reached 22,066,000 on September 30, 2009.

This was an increase of 451,900 people during the year, keeping the growth rate high at 2.1 per cent.

The majority of the growth, 66 per cent, was due to overseas migration, with the remainder, 34 per cent, due to natural increase, or the excess of births over deaths.

Pressure is building on Mr Rudd, who believes in the benefits of a "big Australia", to spell out how the nation can sustain an expected 35.9 million people by 2050.

The Australian Conservation Foundation this week nominated population growth to be listed in federal environmental laws as a threat to biodiversity, a move that would push the Government into developing a strategy.

Former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr yesterday called for Australia's immigration intake to be slashed by half, while Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, who has Australia's fastest growing region in the state's south-east, urged a national approach.

But Mr Rudd said he saw the problem of population growth in terms of planning for future demand.

"The key challenge for us ... is how do we as a nation prepare for that in terms of infrastructure, in terms of planning for our cities, and all those other practical things which need to be done,'' Mr Rudd said.

The intake of migrants had been scaled back as the economic crisis hit and would continue to be dictated by workforce needs, he said.

"For the period ahead we've got to be very mindful of where the pressures still exist in the economy for more skills," Mr Rudd said.

"This is always a year-by-year proposition depending on where we're at, what skills we need, and what we aren't able to generate locally."

Federal Labor MP Kelvin Thomson, who last year floated a plan to cap the population at 26 million, today said the ABS figures highlighted "a recipe for environmental devastation, rising interest rates, and unaffordable housing".

According to the ABS, in the year ending September 30, 2009, 296,300 babies were born, 0.3 per cent fewer than the previous year.

In the same period, 297,400 people migrated to Australia, 3.1 per cent or 9000 more people than the previous year.

AAP.
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Cheers ... tight stops.


This is only my view ... read the black stuff.