As seen by business:
Business is in favour of population increases by any method because our GDP is so heavily reliant on retail sales. More people equal more sales. This allows a local business to grow without the same degree of effort that it would need if the population growth was next to nil.
More workers equals less pressure from the unions for wage increases when there are more workers than jobs.
Immigrant workers will usually work harder, longer and for less than the locals so they can get started in a new country. Without a command of the local language a worker can’t be as selective as a local. This applies to all countries hence the Mexicans in the USA, the Turkish in Germany, the Arabs in France and the Pakistanis in Great Brittain.
Immigrants have been exploited throughout history by the local moneyed class. No matter the presentations and words used by business at the bottom line exploitation figures strongly.
As seen by present residents:
Competition for the existing jobs and the potential to have made a greater personal effort to hold a job than in the past. The majority however don’t have a problem with immigrants filling jobs they don’t want to do because they consider the task or position below them from a status point of view. Locals fear increased competition not only for jobs but also housing, schooling and other amenities. They are also concerned about creating more ghettos than we currently have because new immigrants tend to want to live close to people they can talk to, purchase food types that they are used to, practise the religion they were born into and have the support of a community that understands them. Unfortunately these ghettos tend to house a group of people who earn below the national average and this manifests itself in how they are housed, dressed and fed.
An unfortunate by product of this situation is that new arrivals are often exploited by the earlier arrivals because of their greater knowledge of the local scene.
Local born residents now observe changes taking place in their cities which many are not comfortable with particularly as they age because all the things they fondly remember are being change and often these changes are associated with the new arrivals. Free space is now being replaced with high density living with all the challenges that can bring.
The quote is often that the face of Australia is changing and they are resistant to a change that appears to bring no personal advantages to them only disadvantages.
Any political party or group that wish to promote increased immigration have to find a way by which it is demonstrably to the advantage of the existing residents. Only then can we minimise the conflict between the new and old residents. The existing locals have a believability problem with the utterances of politicians and business leaders who they see as having vested interests.
KME
