Immigration could resurrect Grandma’s place in society

stephen says:

04:54am | 04/01/10

Yeah, i know some Aussies feel threatened by migrants, but I like ‘em because, well, they like me. That’s why they come here, isn’t it, to join us and be like us. And when i say be like us, i don’t mean they’ve gotta rock up in a flannelette shirt with a rollie stickin’ out the side of their mouth yellin’ out “
Hey marg’, shut the fly-wire else’n the blowies’II pick yer up and carry you away…. Er, maybe yer can leave it open er, just a little bit”
New Aussies and their grandmothers will bring their own culture and eccentricities with them. New ideas are good for everybody.

Eric says:

05:03am | 04/01/10

What’s wrong with grandfathers? I thought we were supposed to be an egalitarian society.

annie forrest says:

06:26am | 04/01/10

Who cares what the colour of their skin is or what they believe in as along as they want to join us and not change us, as is the case in certain European countries. And I have witnessed at a naturalisation ceremony in Canberra. A gentlemans wife just received her citizenship certificate and stuck out my hand to congratulate him and was admonished strobgly as it wasn’t in his culture to touch a women who wasn’t his wife!

Shane From Melbourne says:

07:41am | 04/01/10

Try an overloaded infrastructure and ahuge government deficit trying service the increased immigration. There are negatives with a large immigration intake as well.

AFR says:

08:03am | 04/01/10

Annie, by not being able to shake your hand, he was hardly trying to “change” you. My wife prays to Buddha every night, but has never once suggested I have to convert.

Jamers Hunter says:

08:56am | 04/01/10

was a time when asside from the aberdiginies we were all migrants, well them too way back. result was depending on the time there have been pockets of new arrivals who were misfits and trouble makers. the chinese then the irish then the greeks since then the vietnamese and so on so now we have some rat bag groups of afgans and others. reflect though the north south telegraph was built with largley afgan labour and camels. the gold fields ran on chgeap chinese labour and melbournes police force on irish immigrants. wehye would we be with out all out ethnic restarants? and now it seens that every second service station is pakistani or indian owned. by people willing to work very long hours to make a start for thewir families.
I am sure that now as befor the vast majority of thes people who came here to find peace and prosperity abhore violence and antisocial enclave attitudes. give then a go and in one generation you wont pick then from the rest of us. meantime crack down on all trouble makers of any ethnic background and make sure our courts hand out sentences comensurant with both the crime and comunity expectations.

ian morton says:

12:19pm | 04/01/10

James, I get what you say and that has what has happened in the past. But the 3rd generation of Muslims in Europe have proved to be more radicalised than the 2nd who are more radical than the first. The security services in the UK are watching more than 4000 individuals whom they consider to be a terrorist threat, all of the Islamic faith. So go figure, and sadly it’s probably only a matter of time before we have the same problem here unless the World changes overnight

Liz says:

12:44pm | 04/01/10

Yes indeed Grandparents are the glue and of course many of them have active lives these days and may not be prepared to undertake unpaid nanny duties.
Refugees need a home and country.Our adoption practices nowdays are about as enlightened as it gets, how about extending that to people needing to have a new country adopt them?

Shane Prince says:

12:53pm | 04/01/10

Ian Morton says he gets what Jamers Hunter says- but he just doesn’t. The same thing he now says about Muslims was once said about the Irish (including the numbers being watched by security forces in the UK). It has been said about most racial groups as they arrive and every time those comments are said to be justified because this group is different. Wake up. The only thing that radicalises young migrants is disrespect. In fact, disrespect radicalises most people. Mr Hunter is right, apply the rule of law without fear or favour and deal with the small number of people who commit crimes equally and without prejudice and let the vast majority of new migrants get on with what they came here to do - build their new lives work hard and give their children a better future.

M says:

12:57pm | 04/01/10

Great article Ian, Grandmothers (and Grandfathers) are very important and should be treated with respect and relied upon for knowledge and experience etc whatever the cultural background. But why should it fall on the grandparents to raise their grandchildren? Why are we celebrating the fact that both parents can go back to work because they know that Grandma or Grandpa will be there to look after the kids!
Having a child is a responsibility, and if you both of you have to work to survive, why are you having children in the first place? Is it to satisfy society? Is it obligation? What I would like to know is, who will look after the grandchildren’s children when they want to go back to work? Since the parents missed out on raising their kids the first time around, what experience will they have to help their children in the future?

AB says:

04:56pm | 04/01/10

Why is it that an article on grandparents turns quickly into Muslim bashing?

Lisa says:

05:27pm | 04/01/10

Don’t worry Eric, I love gradpas, and I’m hoping my own husband will be one, one day.
I have to say though, it’s unfair (and a parental cop-out) to expect Grandma and Grandpa to look after the kids fulltime!
Childcaring, particularly for mutliple children, can be an incredibly restricting and tiring lifestyle, and not always enjoyable.
Mums and Dads should rediscover the ethics of trust and co-operation, and sort out the childcare themselves.
Perhaps the government could get into the swing of it, and allow income splitting for family households, like other countries.

Dan says:

09:43pm | 04/01/10

annie forrest, plenty of religious men don’t like to touch women other than their wife. There’s nothing wrong with it.

Ian morton, give me a break. Firstly, that’s a nonsencical generisation, and secondly, do you have any idea how much racism there is in Europe? You would fit right in.