I REFER to the recent pending offer by the Australian government to offer South African farmers the chance to move to Australia to farm. Had this offer come from Europe or the USA it may have merit.
A recent survey of some furniture removal companies indicate that for every one family they are moving into Australia, they are moving three families out. The Australian population is more or less stagnant.
Like most Western countries it has a declining birth rate. Efforts to stem this decline by immigration has not secured the results they had hoped for. Basically they need people and are a bit fussy who they take.
So what are the issues here?
Australia is a huge country with a small population scattered across a vast area. The mining industry has declined sharply with limited orders from China. Their manufacturing sector such as their motor industries have all gone. The Tasmanian timber industry is in decline. The reasons for this are simple, high wages, cost of transport and distance to its potential markets in Europe and the USA.
What is propping up its economy is now immigration. Immigration for Australia and similarly New Zealand are one of their biggest money earners.
Up till now they have both done an excellent job, but the cracks are starting to show. When most countries have gone into recession, Australia and New Zealand have bucked the trend. Beaches, sunshine and open spaces have lured peoples from all over the world to live the Aussie dream at any cost. They sell all their possessions, pay the high immigration cost and congratulate themselves for getting in.
They flock to Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Property prices in these cities have a nearly 20-year surge. An average price for a Sydney house is around R10m. Stop immigration and these prices will collapse. Supply and demand pushes up the cost of living to unimaginable heights. Jobs that are on their critical list don’t exist. Local experience is called for which the immigrant does not have.
After their savings are now depleted they flee back to their country of origin only for the next crop of immigrants to try their luck. Some make it but most put up with the hardship or just leave.
Top-notch marketing from the Australians.
Recently there are many blogs from around the world that have sprung up describing the hardships experienced by people trying their luck in both Australia and New Zealand.
Google blogs why do immigrants leave Australia/New Zealand.
In brief, cost of housing and living are horrendous, very few good jobs, summer heat becoming unbearable with global warming, Fires, feeling of isolation and loneliness, constant slurs by locals who don’t want immigrants in their country and of course we need to mention the flies.
I say to the left wing political leaders, think about what you are doing to flame racial tensions and land expropriation.
The next ‘country’ we can all flee to is the Indian or Atlantic oceans. We need to sort out the issues of race and land ownership with care before we all starve.
Pro Agriculture
Kloof
