“we are increasingly importing people who hate this country” - the biggest sources of net immigration to Australia are China, India & the Philippines. I work with a lot of immigrants and they think Australia is awesome. So I am calling BS on this one unless you have some data to back these assertions.
There is a valid discussion to have around sustainable levels of immigration in Australia and the infrastructure needed to support this population. But this is not that discussion.
The images in the post certainly give the impression that the more accurate statement would be "we are increasingly educating people to hate this country"! (There is of course a related issue that pursuing a foreign policy of using Australia as the USA's anti-China bulwark across The Pacific is incompatible with large-scale immigration from China. But I would argue that this foreign policy is bad for Australians, regardless of Australia's immigration policy. I would also add -- I say this as an American who is half Chinese-Filipino and whose wife is Chinese -- that mass immigration from Asia is incompatible with maintaining Australia's rustic, laid-back character. It's ultimately not for me to judge whether this, like its alliance with America, is worth preserving. But it's worth realizing that such tradeoffs do exist.)
the majority from those countries are left wing voters - so from the right frame, of course they hate us and our country. obviously if you are left wing you would view it differently.
This is a popular right wing talking point that is not fully supported by the evidence: "While party preference leans slightly toward Labor, Indian Australians are more ideologically centre-right"
41-35 for left vote is pretty substantial, and Kos Samaras says it's a much greater difference than that. I'm very skeptical of the 'centre right' claim from DFAT given the revealed preference of actual voting.
As someone who spends a lot of time with people from these communities, the idea that they are Woke Post-Modern Neo-Marxists is ludicrous. They are generally hard-working, aspirational, and eager to enjoy all the manifold pleasures that Australia has to offer. If they were hard left, they would be considerably keener on The Greens than they are.
In fact, they would have been prime targets for the Howard-era Coalition. The struggle of the Liberal Party to engage with these groups today shows how much the Libs have lost their way.
who said anything about wokeness? it matters little what ideological labels are attached, it matters greatly which party is voted in to power. btw I have also spent lot's of time working with high quality immigrants, as have most people who work in white collar jobs today. if we could select for only the immigrants that you and i know and love that would be wonderful. the voting/polling record shows we don't live in that world.
We should just let people pay directly for Australian visas instead of charging them for idiot fake degrees. Completely moronic system that degrades the quality of tertiary education and benefits nobody but a handful of rent-seeking administrators who believe they're entitled to free money. Aussies and Latin Americans are pretty similar - we should encourage the highest-functioning people in South America to come here, have them pay us directly for the privilege and use their money to build more houses so supply can keep pace with demand.
Energy costs do affect the mining industry a fair bit.
Have met a bunch of Australian geologists and mining guys in SE Asia, Africa etc looking for Lithium even though you guys have one of the largest reserves in the world.
The Lithium that you do mine is monopolised by China. You need a bit more competition in your trade partnerships.
Machete wielding intimidation comes straight from war torn Africa. Home and car break-ins are in Johannesburg style - brazen, terrifying and effective. What is this to be called if not hatred? A question that is not being asked - why are these criminals allowed back on the street the day after being arrested? Over and over again. They know they can't be punished and continue a life of crime.
I don't mean to sound too defeatist here, but perhaps all prosperous societies inevitably devolve into bureaucratic stagnation. The institutional complexity that accumulates over time—regulatory capture, administrative bloat, entrenched interests—may represent an inescapable trajectory for mature economies.
The only sustainable escape mechanism involves finding new regions where economic dynamism can establish itself free from accumulated institutional constraints. This isn't a novel insight—we observe this pattern repeatedly throughout economic history.
America didn't escape this institutional trap through reform but through geographic mobility. Its centers of economic dynamism kept migrating over time as older regions calcified. Initially, the East Coast mercantile hubs drove growth, then Midwest industrial centers, followed by West Coast software innovation, and now Southwest green energy and shale gas development.
This geographic dynamism allowed America to continuously regenerate entrepreneurial energy by moving to regions with fewer regulatory constraints, lower costs, and more flexible institutions. Each new center could build modern infrastructure and governance structures rather than working within legacy systems.
Australia presents a more concerning picture. Melbourne and Sydney remain the dominant economic centers despite their increasing institutional sclerosis and cost burdens. Especially as mining became increasingly automated, these cities grew more economically important rather than declining in relative significance.
This geographic concentration may explain much of Australia's productivity stagnation. Unlike America, Australia lacks the internal geographic mobility that enables institutional renewal. Economic activity remains trapped in the most bureaucratically mature and expensive regions.
Perhaps the only path to escape this stagnation involves somehow enabling Queensland and Western Australia to become the next boom centers. These regions possess the geographic advantages—lower regulatory burden, cheaper land, proximity to natural resources—that could support renewed economic dynamism.
The question becomes whether Australia's institutional structure permits such geographic rebalancing, or whether the political and economic gravity of Melbourne and Sydney will continue concentrating activity in precisely the regions least capable of generating productivity growth.
This suggests that economic renewal may depend less on reforming existing institutions than on creating space for new ones to emerge in fresh geographic contexts.
For me, one cause for optimism is reaction in the UK. This country never (consciously) takes a lead from America, we’re stubborn like that, but the umbilical cord from the UK was never cut. Energy in the right direction might seep in from there.
“we are increasingly importing people who hate this country” - the biggest sources of net immigration to Australia are China, India & the Philippines. I work with a lot of immigrants and they think Australia is awesome. So I am calling BS on this one unless you have some data to back these assertions.
There is a valid discussion to have around sustainable levels of immigration in Australia and the infrastructure needed to support this population. But this is not that discussion.
I overall agree with that sentiment
The images in the post certainly give the impression that the more accurate statement would be "we are increasingly educating people to hate this country"! (There is of course a related issue that pursuing a foreign policy of using Australia as the USA's anti-China bulwark across The Pacific is incompatible with large-scale immigration from China. But I would argue that this foreign policy is bad for Australians, regardless of Australia's immigration policy. I would also add -- I say this as an American who is half Chinese-Filipino and whose wife is Chinese -- that mass immigration from Asia is incompatible with maintaining Australia's rustic, laid-back character. It's ultimately not for me to judge whether this, like its alliance with America, is worth preserving. But it's worth realizing that such tradeoffs do exist.)
The relationship between Australia, the USA and China is a complex one. China is Australia’s biggest export market. Hugh White is probably one of the best thinkers on Australia’s national defence policy regarding China: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/02/australia-post-america-future-china
The influence of the Chinese state in Australia certainly deserves scrutiny: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Invasion_(book)
You may think Australia’s character is “rustic” but it is actually very urbanized (more so than the US).
https://tempo.substack.com/p/cringe-or-based-australian-culture
I did not realize that Australia is so urban, so thanks for sharing! And I am also fascinated by the map of Tasmania, so thanks again!
The level of immigration in Australia is overstated by the far right for its own delusional political purposes.
the majority from those countries are left wing voters - so from the right frame, of course they hate us and our country. obviously if you are left wing you would view it differently.
This is a popular right wing talking point that is not fully supported by the evidence: "While party preference leans slightly toward Labor, Indian Australians are more ideologically centre-right"
https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/understanding-australia-indian-communities-statistical-snapshot.pdf
It is also causing absolute havoc among those conservatives who know they need to reach out to these groups but whose colleagues keep on stuffing it up: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-08/jacinta-napijinpa-price-liberals-immigration-sussan-ley/105729194
41-35 for left vote is pretty substantial, and Kos Samaras says it's a much greater difference than that. I'm very skeptical of the 'centre right' claim from DFAT given the revealed preference of actual voting.
As someone who spends a lot of time with people from these communities, the idea that they are Woke Post-Modern Neo-Marxists is ludicrous. They are generally hard-working, aspirational, and eager to enjoy all the manifold pleasures that Australia has to offer. If they were hard left, they would be considerably keener on The Greens than they are.
In fact, they would have been prime targets for the Howard-era Coalition. The struggle of the Liberal Party to engage with these groups today shows how much the Libs have lost their way.
But I have just repeated here the points that Samaras makes: https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/09/the-good-the-bad-and-the-stupid/
who said anything about wokeness? it matters little what ideological labels are attached, it matters greatly which party is voted in to power. btw I have also spent lot's of time working with high quality immigrants, as have most people who work in white collar jobs today. if we could select for only the immigrants that you and i know and love that would be wonderful. the voting/polling record shows we don't live in that world.
What do you mean “we”, paleface?
I am an immigrant who votes Labor.
We should just let people pay directly for Australian visas instead of charging them for idiot fake degrees. Completely moronic system that degrades the quality of tertiary education and benefits nobody but a handful of rent-seeking administrators who believe they're entitled to free money. Aussies and Latin Americans are pretty similar - we should encourage the highest-functioning people in South America to come here, have them pay us directly for the privilege and use their money to build more houses so supply can keep pace with demand.
Yes. Auctioning visas makes total sense
Australia also has abundant nuclear energy it refuses to take advantage of (you do hint at this).
Nuclear energy is more expensive and less efficient than other forms of renewable energy and more dangerous.
Energy costs do affect the mining industry a fair bit.
Have met a bunch of Australian geologists and mining guys in SE Asia, Africa etc looking for Lithium even though you guys have one of the largest reserves in the world.
The Lithium that you do mine is monopolised by China. You need a bit more competition in your trade partnerships.
My platform:
1. End the war.
2. Land to the Peasants.
3. Bread for the Workers.
4. All Power to the Soviets.
Machete wielding intimidation comes straight from war torn Africa. Home and car break-ins are in Johannesburg style - brazen, terrifying and effective. What is this to be called if not hatred? A question that is not being asked - why are these criminals allowed back on the street the day after being arrested? Over and over again. They know they can't be punished and continue a life of crime.
On Economic Dynamism and Geographic Renewal
I don't mean to sound too defeatist here, but perhaps all prosperous societies inevitably devolve into bureaucratic stagnation. The institutional complexity that accumulates over time—regulatory capture, administrative bloat, entrenched interests—may represent an inescapable trajectory for mature economies.
The only sustainable escape mechanism involves finding new regions where economic dynamism can establish itself free from accumulated institutional constraints. This isn't a novel insight—we observe this pattern repeatedly throughout economic history.
America didn't escape this institutional trap through reform but through geographic mobility. Its centers of economic dynamism kept migrating over time as older regions calcified. Initially, the East Coast mercantile hubs drove growth, then Midwest industrial centers, followed by West Coast software innovation, and now Southwest green energy and shale gas development.
This geographic dynamism allowed America to continuously regenerate entrepreneurial energy by moving to regions with fewer regulatory constraints, lower costs, and more flexible institutions. Each new center could build modern infrastructure and governance structures rather than working within legacy systems.
Australia presents a more concerning picture. Melbourne and Sydney remain the dominant economic centers despite their increasing institutional sclerosis and cost burdens. Especially as mining became increasingly automated, these cities grew more economically important rather than declining in relative significance.
This geographic concentration may explain much of Australia's productivity stagnation. Unlike America, Australia lacks the internal geographic mobility that enables institutional renewal. Economic activity remains trapped in the most bureaucratically mature and expensive regions.
Perhaps the only path to escape this stagnation involves somehow enabling Queensland and Western Australia to become the next boom centers. These regions possess the geographic advantages—lower regulatory burden, cheaper land, proximity to natural resources—that could support renewed economic dynamism.
The question becomes whether Australia's institutional structure permits such geographic rebalancing, or whether the political and economic gravity of Melbourne and Sydney will continue concentrating activity in precisely the regions least capable of generating productivity growth.
This suggests that economic renewal may depend less on reforming existing institutions than on creating space for new ones to emerge in fresh geographic contexts.
The Liberal Party will survive - just - only so long as a competent right wing populist doesn’t appear. None visible so far
Has there ever been a competent right wing populist?
Politically competent (able to attract large portions of the vote) yes: Trump, Farage, Meloni, Weidel, Le Pen, Milei to name a few
I suppose Hitler would qualify under that definition.
Yes ofc, Hitler was politically competent.
Are you trying to provide more evidence for the study on how long it takes for Hitler to be raised in a social media exchange?
Are you trying to win today’s Richard Cranium Award?
94 seats in the House of Representatives is hardly a Bradbury moment.
I said it was a landslide…
Do you remember the Bradbury race?
Everyone else fell over.
The last federal election was competitive in several seats .
The Libs fell over buddy
The Nationals vote held up well and the Teals won around the same number of seats. The Libs fell over in the suburbs.But there were others skating.
For me, one cause for optimism is reaction in the UK. This country never (consciously) takes a lead from America, we’re stubborn like that, but the umbilical cord from the UK was never cut. Energy in the right direction might seep in from there.