David Edwin Goble comments

Ha ha! Employers complaining about losing a few % off a profit of what? Just how much profit does a company need ???

Profit is the amount made after paying all costs. So who benefits from all this extra cash? Not the employees I am sure.

When I was in Tokyo in march 2010, I was grateful for tissues and I had a runny nose. Didn't noctise the ads though too busy looking at the sites lol

it's not April is it?

The term original inhabitants really pisses me off! For Australia there are no original human inhabitants. The only original inhabitants are of the African continent. As that I believe is the current thinking of the origin of Human beings.

Sure the Aboriginals were the first settlers of Australia. Does that allow an aboriginal to be treated any different to any other person born in Australia given all other factors are equal, I don't think so.

Compared with soils in the Northern Hemisphere, Australian soils have less organic matter and poor structure and tend to be quite clayey just below the surface, which restricts drainage and impedes root growth. Some of the clay characteristics cause problems for engineering and farming because of their 'shrink and swell' nature.

Australian soils mirror the continent's great age and consequently are products of environmental conditions throughout history (climate, organisms, topography, parent material and time). This means that large areas are affected by salt and have various nutrient and physical limitations for plant growth and agriculture.

The agricultural landscapes of Australia support a great range of soils. Most are ancient, strongly weathered and infertile. Others are younger and more fertile. This variety along with the natural limitations of many soils and their interactions with climate, have made it difficult to develop sustainable systems for agriculture. Limitations to productivity have also been induced through human impacts on soils. While some forms of degradation such as nutrient deficiencies can be corrected, others, such as soil erosion, are difficult to remedy.

It seems obvious that soil type and properties should be fundamental in determining land use, particularly in agriculture. To some extent, this is true - a characteristic of the Australian landscape is that uncleared areas in the agricultural zone are often areas with poor soils. In practice, though, many other factors control agricultural land use - for example climate, water supply and proximity to markets. Areas with soils which are not highly suitable for agriculture are likely to be farmed if other factors are favourable.

In some cases, soil limitations can be managed - for example, application of fertilisers to soils of low fertility, and use of conservation farming techniques on soils with high erodibility. However, inappropriate land use is the major driving factor in land degradation. A better understanding of the distribution of land use relative to soil type is crucial in designing and implementing sustainable land use systems.

Agriculture occupies 60 percent of the land area of Australia, but much of this is used for open-range cattle grazing, especially in huge areas of the states of Queensland and Western Australia. Only 5 percent of Australia’s agricultural land is used for growing crops.

Western Australia and New South Wales have the largest areas of cropland. The limited area suitable for growing commercial crops is limited mainly by climate, because Australia is the world’s driest continent.

Annual rainfall of about 20 inches (500 millimeters) is necessary to grow crops successfully without irrigation; less than half of Australia receives this amount, and the rainfall is often variable or unreliable.

Years of drought may be followed by severe flooding. High temperatures throughout most of Australia also mean high evaporation rates, so rainfall figures alone are not a good guide to the feasibility of agriculture.

The population of Australia is estimated to be 22,911,870 as of 22 May 2012. Australia is the 50th most populous country in the world. Its population is concentrated mainly in urban areas and is expected to exceed 28 million by 2030.

Australia has scarcely more than two persons per square kilometre of total land area. With 89% of its population living in urban areas, Australia is one of the world's most urbanised countries.

You still want to move people away from the Australian coast for farm land?

Sure with time and money anything is possible! Let's put people in the outback, in the Sierra and other deserts, Siberia and both Arctic's. While we're at it lets chop down the Amazon and place a million or so there...

It would be better if we could fix the reasons why people want to or need to leave the country they were born in. Instead of accepting immigration. How much harder can that be ???

I hope the three protesters will be forced to pay the bills for the costs they forced the rest of Australia's tax payers to pay just to have them returned !!!

As a middle aged male, I planned and did take photos of my meals most times while I was in Japan for the first time as all the food was new to me and I wanted memories of the tastes as well as the sites/places I went to.

yes - but something like 100 years.

You can cook fish with lemon juice!

Does McDonald's Japan sell the thick shakes, When I was in Tokyo in 2010 I could tell and didn't know how to ask?

Was craving for one two...