Call for a 25% cut in migration
* Josh Gordon * October 26, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S migration intake must be immediately slashed by one quarter to help cope with the global financial crisis and relieve pressure on cities and the environment, says the Federal Opposition.

Amid growing concern that Australia's unemployment rate is set to increase, Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said plans for a record 190,300 migrants in 2008-09 should immediately be scaled back to the 2005-06 level of 142,930.

That would represent a 25% drop, effectively ending Australia's policy of relying heavily on migrants to plug skills shortages in an acknowledgement that the economy is set to slow sharply.

"With all the indicators now pointing to a significant downturn in the employment market, the Government must end its dithering and scale back its migration program urgently," Dr Stone said.

"Unless migrants have prospective employers demanding their specific skills, a big lift in migration will only compound the pressures in what is becoming a much tougher and more competitive scenario for job-seekers."

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has already hinted that the planned migration intake for next financial year is likely to be lower as a result of the global financial crisis. He has also said that the expected intake this financial year would be reviewed after the Federal Treasury's budget update next month, which will contain new unemployment predictions.

The current planned migration intake is based on predictions that the unemployment rate will average 4.75% this financial year, compared to the current rate of 4.3%.

It follows growing anxiety that Australia's cities are now bulging, with the influx of new arrivals placing increased pressure on roads, public transport networks, hospitals, schools, water resources and housing.

Meanwhile, federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek said it was essential that a more integrated approach was taken to the related issues of migration and urban planning.

She said the Government would be publishing information on the expected demand for new housing, which was influenced by factors such as migration, changes in divorce rates and an increase in the availability of home care for elderly people.

"We have an enormous amount of information available to us on what the demand will be for housing, and immigration is a key part of that," Ms Plibersek told The Sunday Age.

The Government is hoping a $512 million fund providing grants for local and state government and private developers will help cover costs linked to land development and infrastructure such as water, sewerage and transport.

Figures provided to The Sunday Age show that so far there have been 15 expressions of interest in the grants from Victoria, out of 91 received nationally.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/call-for...oc.html?page=-1

Grieving mother visits balcony-plunge death site

WU LIPING peered over the edge of the third-floor balcony where her daughter had fallen to her death and briefly touched the railing with her left hand.

She then turned her back and walked back inside the flat where only days before her daughter had allegedly been repeatedly raped by a knife-wielding man and then, according to police claims, still naked and terrified, fell to her death.

The balcony scene was part of a police tour of the apartment building as part of their investigation into claims that her daughter, and three other students, were subjected to a horrifying robbery and rape ordeal on Sunday.

Yesterday police said that on Wednesday evening they arrested a 26-year-old homeless man they believed was responsible for the attack, Brendan David Dennison.

Dennison spent Wednesday night in Redfern police station cells and was charged yesterday with 21 offences including murder, recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, four counts of inciting others to commit acts of indecency and five counts of aggravated sexual assault.

He did not come up from his cell during the court hearing yesterday and did not apply for bail.

The magistrate ordered DNA samples to be taken from Dennison and adjourned the matter to December 11 at the same court.

Documents tendered in court allege Dennison raped Ms Wu's daughter three times and a 19-year-old Korean twice, as well as performing an obscene oral act on the man and inciting the four victims to perform sexual acts on each other and with him.

He also allegedly robbed one of the four of $50 and another of a wallet containing $120 and personal identification.

According to the documents tendered to the court all of the offences were allegedly committed while Dennison held a kitchen knife.

Only an hour before Dennison faced court Ms Wu and her husband arrived at Sydney Airport from Shanghai.

Within four hours of touching down, they were walking through the flat where Ms Wu's daughter died.

Ms Wu's brief tour of the flat was a horrific end to a brutal year for the businesswoman.

"She's lost her home, her business and now she's lost her only child," her Australian lawyer, Daniel Sheen, said outside Dennison's court hearing.

The earthquake in Sichuan this year destroyed Ms Wu's house and a supermarket she ran in the town of Jiangyou, Mr Sheen said.

After touring the flat Ms Wu and her husband walked to some bouquets that lay on the cement below the flat.

The flowers mark the spot where neighbours found the body of Ms Wu's daughter on Sunday afternoon.

She briefly looked up, to the same railing she had touched, and was supported by her husband as she walked back inside the building.

The pair plan to stay in Australia for several weeks to organise Ms Wu's daughter's funeral, which will be held in Sydney, Mr Sheen said.

Asked why the family wanted to have the funeral here he said: "This is the place that she has been studying and living in for a long time."

Ms Wu's daughter will be cremated and the couple will then fly with the ashes to China.

Thirty minutes after the couple left the Waterloo apartment the husband arrived at Glebe Morgue to identify the body of Ms Wu's daughter, again escorted by police officers.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/grieving-mother-visits-balconyplunge-death-site-20081031-5eu3.html?page=-1