Base immigration on numbers – not race or culture!

15 August 2018

Media Releases 2018

Immigration policy should be based on numbers, not race, ethnicity or religion, according to Sustainable Population Australia (SPA).

SPA rejected the anti-Muslim sentiments of Senator Fraser Anning delivered in Parliament yesterday.

SPA national president Sandra Kanck says the time is long overdue for the immigration debate to be in the context of an ecologically sustainable population for Australia.

SPA president Sandra Kanck said:

“That speech was disgraceful and goes against Australia’s ethos of tolerance and a fair go.”

“Of course, we want immigrants and refugees to integrate, and resources must be made available so they can,” says Ms Kanck. “That, however, is a side issue to the central question of how many people we can bring into the country, and how much natural increase we can sustain, without degrading our resource base or environment.”

“State of Environment reports consistently cite population growth, along with economic growth, as the drivers of environmental decline. We live in a largely arid country with thin soils and an erratic climate. Climate change is driving weather systems southwards, drying out the southern half of the continent, increasing the likelihood of drought.”

“We have just passed the 25 million mark and growing by a million every two and a half years. This is simply not sustainable in environmental or economic terms,” Ms Kanck says.

“We welcome the current debate on immigration but it goes beyond the current topics of congestion and unaffordable housing in our major cities. The cultural and ethnic make-up of our immigrants should not be part of it. Rather, the issue of immigration needs to be set squarely in the context of population numbers, remembering that 62 per cent of our population growth comes from net overseas migration.”

Ms Kanck also called on the media and political leaders to reject using the ‘race card’ to shut down genuine debate about Australia’s population growth.

“Too often, legitimate concern about our rate of population growth is ascribed to racist motivations.  This is simply insulting to many decent people.”

“A recent study by the Australian Population Research institute found that, even though a majority (54 per cent) of Australians believe immigration should be reduced, 45 per cent of Australians are fearful of voicing their concerns about immigration because they may be accused of racism.”

“Unfortunately extremist statements like those of Senator Anning do a great disservice to constructive and reasonable debate about immigration and population.”

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Migration
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