Kevin Rudd will soon pass the Kama Sutra in his ability to take a new position. Global warming, ‘the greatest moral issue of our time’ was his first prime position. He made a few adjustments with fuel watch, grocery watch and whale watch but his retreat from his pre-election promise to ‘tow the boats back out to sea’ would have been difficult for even for Kama Kev.
The illegal immigration rort quickly turned from a trickle to a flood as soon as people smugglers realised Australia was back open for business under Kama Kev. Rather than make the hard decisions necessary to stem the tide Kev decided to suspend it for people from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka until after the next election. Kev obviously thinks the people smugglers are as dumb as the people who would vote for him a second time round! All the smugglers now have to do is focus on a couple of different countries until Kev is voted back in and it will be business as usual.
Kama Kev’s sudden move to appoint a Minister for Population was slick politics. It could even become the greatest moral issue of our time!
Kev’s aim is to muddy the water between legal and illegal immigration. The difference is our right to decide who comes to Australia and the circumstances under which they come. This was John Howard’s policy and it effectively put the people smugglers out of business until Kev was elected.
Population is a key policy area and deserving of a special Ministry. The appointment of Tony Burke, one of the most capable Ministers in Rudd’s Labor Government, is a good choice. One of Burke’s priorities should be to adopt Tony Abbott’s proposal for paid maternity leave to encourage population growth within Australia.
However it is unrealistic to think that Australia can generate sustained economic growth without an ambitious and progressive immigration program. The challenge for Tony Burke is to match the infrastructure development to population intake. This would be regarded as mission impossible in NSW since Bob Carr declared that ‘Sydney is full’ and infrastructure policy was relegated to the production of glossy brochures and dodgy developer mates.
Motorists using Narellan Road, Camden Valley Way and the dreaded M5 are reminded of Labor’s incompetence on a daily basis. NSW electricity users are reminded of it on a quarterly basis – and they ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Our hospitals are on life-support and public-transport alternatives are not an option for the majority of commuters.
Its little wonder Kama Kev is trying to deflect the legal and illegal immigration debate until after the next election!
