Immigration slashed

[skippy]

"THE record immigration intake will be cut for the first time in more than a decade as the Government tries to preserve jobs in a deteriorating global economy.

The Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, will announce a 14 per cent cut to the skilled migration program today, capping the number of workers to enter Australia next year at 115,000, down from 133,500 in 2008-09."

Its a pity the rodent didn't do something about this a couple of years ago, maybe we wouldn;t be looking at nudging 10% unemployment by xmas if he had.
Lets be totally clear here, the rodent government new this crisis was looming, and what did they do? NOTHING.


http://www.smh.com.au/national/immigrat ... -8yy2.html

[mantra.]

We could all see this coming, but Rudd will be getting the blame. Howard & Costello ran a huge pyramid scheme economy and it was obvious years ago that it was going to come crashing down.

The immigration situation is out of control. Even with 14% slashed - it's still not enough. It is estimated that with visa overstayers, refugees and workers our population will climb another million by the time Rudd's first term is up. Every day thousands of people are losing their jobs. How will this country support so many unemployed particularly with future budget deficits and less revenue?

The coalition is to blame for many of our problems today, but Rudd is mismanaging his handling of the crisis. Banks are continually outsourcing thousands of jobs overseas while we underwrite them. Rudd won't stand up to anyone and say enough is enough.

Immigration needs to stop now - at least until the economy rights itself again.

[Jovial Monk]

Immigration is a great stimulus to the economy and I regret the program is being wound down.

OTOH we really do need to decide what size population Australia can support. We could both increase immigration and the population we can support by some big and imaginative engineering schemes that would divert the flood water from Qld into the MD

[Hebe]

I agree with you Mantra and I wonder if they'll ever get off their bums and do something about the banks. They're still raking it in.

[Hebe]

Though I was pleased to read this:

CONSUMERS have snubbed a new regime allowing ATM owners, rather than the card-issuing bank, to charge fees on so-called foreign ATM transactions.

Customers Ltd, which owns the biggest ATM network, reports a 12 per cent decline in ATM visits over the first two weeks of operation of the Reserve Bank-endorsed direct charging system, with average per-transaction amounts remaining steady.

Customers' 5400 machines are usually found in convenience stores and service stations, or badged as Bank of Queensland or St George Bank terminals. Customers chief executive Tim Wildash said consumers might have been deterred by publicity about banks continuing to impose an additional foreign ATM charge, even though they incur no cost in providing the service.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/bu ... 01,00.html