Friday, February 29, 2008
DOWN WITH THE WORKERS
Tim Flannery mostly kept quiet about immigration and population issues during his year as Prime Australian, but now he’s off the leash again:
“Why is it you would want to bring in more people when there are chronic unemployment problems in parts of Adelaide which must be addressed ... ” said Prof Flannery, the 2007 Australian of the Year and former SA Museum director.
“In my view there should be more emphasis on helping those who are already there in the state than just bringing more people in.”
We keep bringing in more immigrants ... yet the unemployment rate keeps falling! That might tell you something about work demand in Australia. And the willingness or ability to work of those described as “chronically unemployed”; at this point, given the economy’s strength, these people are unemployable. (Bad news for Flannery: immigration is only going to increase.) More from the Australian of Last Year:
There’s a certain perversity in teaching about the dangers of climate change in classrooms lit and powered by the wasteful burning of the very fossil fuel that is causing the problem.
Flannery may have come up with that line while flying overseas to talk about the wasteful burning of fossil fuels.
UPDATE. Plenty of jobs going.