Question for Member of Parliament

So many thoughtful responses

 

actually on further thought, the one thing that ****** me off is the continued assault of the tax burden on the individual PAYE as opposed to corporations.

Seeing headlines that the ATO is going to focus on individuals for tax deductions really annoys me..

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...s/news-story/0d9fadde9c8005a4005394798bc49445

Its not that individual taxes should not be dishonest, what annoys me is that the ATO and Federal Government appear to be taking the path of least resistance. Much easier for them to to focus on individuals rather than the behemoth of multi national corporations and their entourage of lobbyists. The burden of tax increasingly placed on individuals, small business owners and Australian companies.

 

Completely agreed about MB's views and i definitely don't agree with them in regards to housing or anything else except for immigration. Disregard the MB document then and read the Productivity commissions's report and then tell me that is not proof.

No one mentioned doom and gloom but you are surely living in a different country if you don't feel that high numbers of immigration are causing our life standards to go downhill and causing a lot of locals to lose their jobs.

I agree that we should prepare the workforce to be more productive and so on but no side in politics is even close to doing anything like that and current levels of immigration will simply make it harder for locals to get into a job.

PS: I would take anything that comes out of the ABS with a grain of salt. This wealth that we apparently have, where is it? Why aren't people spending? why haven't we got any wage growth for almost 5 years now?

 

Thats just it..I dont 'feel' anything like that. I look at the stats. By almost every economic metric, Australia is better in the 21st Century than in the 1980s and 90s.

What i do 'feel' is after having worked in Russia and spending a lot of time in Italy and Japan is what countries are like without immigration. Old, stagnant and decaying.

 

@radson, Australia sure is better now but not because of immigration and the whole point i'm making is that this high intake of immigration will send the country downhill and that it already has.

Check the below link if you like some more stats :
"High immigration masks Australian economic decline"
High immigration masks Australian economic decline

So Russia/Italy/Japan are all in bad economic shape because of their low levels of immigration.Right.

 

I think the problem is not the level of immigration but the concentration of arrivals in certain cities (2) and particular suburbs in those cities.

 

@paulF

I'm not sure if you understand what is a 'fact'..anyways.. you make interesting points

Wage growth has been anaemic in Australia .but that has been a world wide phenomena since the GFC. I think (definitely not stating a 'fact) that this world wide phenomena is due to disproportionate growth into capital rather than labour.

AS a Federation we can look across the states and see case studies of how immigration has affected economies.

Take plucky Tasmania for example. Virtually nil net overseas immigration for the last 15 years. Is Tasmania an economic powerhouse with high wages and outstanding economy caused by the lack of population growth? Sadly no. Tasmania is fantastic with little traffic and I'm sure the schools are rarely overcrowded but its certainly no economic nirvana.

Sydney and Melbourne on the other hand are becoming economic powerhouses with throngs moving into the cities for jobs. If you build it they will come. NSW especially has a gazillion dollars of tax and stamp duty revenue to throw back into education and infrastructure. Cities of diversity, with a populace diverse and nimble with economies of scale to compete with the rest of the world.

Australia could be one big Tasmania but I for one am glad we can have the best of both worlds.

 

Personally I'd love to see many, many, many more SKILLED people with values that are COMPATIBLE with our society come into the country. Anything that increases demand and puts more pressure on supply of RE is A-OK with me.

 

On the topic of immigration:

I understand that our country has developed in the previous two centuries because of immigration and birth rates. Birth rates have been decreasing over the last 60 years. Improved education is cited as a world-wide phenomenon in lowering birth rates, add in the development of better access to contraception. At this time we look more and more to immigration to keep the country cruising along. The immigrants I associate with bring large quantities of cash with them and actually spend it in the community. They don't get a Medicare card and they have to pay the govt to place their children into school. They drive along the same roads that were already built. I really don't see these people as a drain on the economy.

I think increased population means there is an increased demand for goods and services - those products that tend to be provided by small businesses. Like food, clothing, shelter, sports equipment, flute or ballet lessons, car repairs. That's where we come in.

 

unless they are coming into the Country with a job already lined up....it will end up being a further burden on our welfare system, ultimately.

More skilled people competing for the same volume of jobs....forces down wages (or further stagnation) and leaves lots without jobs....what happens to these people then?

It may force up r/e in the short term, but if the wages drop or stagnate (and expenses don't drop) serviceability and ability to borrow for housing drops.

 

Reform the Senate would be another - not question - suggestion.

 

I agree and I would like to see a system where they are not allowed to get welfare. No job, fly back home.

Anyway this is all just a waste of time. What will be will be. We just gotta do what we gotta do.

 

I would agree, except our employment industry/jobs base is not expanding at the same rate as immigration(and school leavers looking for work).

The gravy-train days of Aus being at the fore-front of industry and manufacture are dead....what has replaced them?

To continue to keep on bringing in masses of folks like the old days in today's Aus economical climate is madness.

Other than construction?....the noise here on this Forum is that Sydney has already run out of steam, Melb might not have much more left...S.A can't even keep the lights on and heading for a severe downturn in businesses as a result of that as well........W.A? - still recovering from the mining collapse and loooong way to go, Tas? - outside of this current investor feeding frenzy nothing happens there, N.T?, QLD?

 

One set of my tenants own their own business. They came with the cash from the sale of their London home plus a business that has high end customers all around the world. He services his customers online and hasn't taken a job from any locals.

Seems like the same deal as cashed up Ozzies living in SE Asia operating online businesses.

 

@radson , i think you are giving Sydney/Melbourne's economies a bit too much credit but sure hope you are right. Other than building and health services, not sure what we produce anything else in Sydney an Melbourne...
@HUGH72 makes a good point above in regards to the concentration of immigrants staying in the two major cities.

 

Every 3 weeks, I fly over the vast metropolis of Sydney. Its really quite amazing the breadth of the city.

What does Sydney produce? Its basically infinite

Education
Tourism
Hospitality
Retail
Construction
Manufacturing
Transportation
Logistics
Finance
Medical Services

2/3's of all Australian output is produced by Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney produced 1/3 of all Australian economic growth last year.

If NSW were a separate nation its economy would rank between Iran ($US412 billion) and Thailand ($US390 billion) on the international league table of economies. But consider this – NSW has only 3.8 million workers compared to Thailand's 38 million. It's a testament to the high productivity of Australian workers.
How would Sydney's economy rank internationally if it were a city-state?