Businesses see migrants as an opportunity, but the locals, feeling a bit disenfranchised, see migrants as a threat. Perhaps migrants give it all they’ve got because they’ve got everything to lose, if they don’t. And migrant children are trained to do the same thereby fostering a new breed of challengers and challenges. Is the competition the real issue? Is it a threat to the way of life here and the sense of ‘entitlement’? What exactly is the challenge migrants pose? Do migrants work harder? What do you think?

Indians in IT, Lebanese concreters, Korean and Chinese electricians, Filipino chefs, the list goes on in SMH columnist Sam de Brito’s article which suggests that the poor form of locally bred labour is the reason why employers prefer migrant workers.

Business basics tell you money flows to its best use or returns. The fighting words of one of Sam de Brito’s interviewees, makes that quite plain: "I'm just not gonna hire Aussies anymore.” de Brito states that the unnamed proprietor of a successful cafe/restaurant has been “worn down by the unreliability of his Australian-born staff.”

de Brito writes, “[The proprietor’s] establishment, once manned by sun-kissed locals, is now powered exclusively by Asian, Middle Eastern and Afghan immigrants as well as visiting backpackers, all of whom are booking valuable experience and guidance from their talented and accomplished restaurateur employer.”

The proprietor’s says, "Aussies don't want to work. Or they won't work weekends or public holidays. Or they can only work these days and not those days. Or they ring up and say they're sick and they were drinking with me the night before. Or they have to take a week off to go to Splendour," he says.

De Brito states, “many bosses I've spoken to say their preference for foreign-born workers comes down to one factor: Australians are lazy.”

A software engineer quoted in the article said, "If I was starting a software company, I would employee only Indian-born coders. They just get it. They work hard, they're polite, they get the work done, they don't biatch and moan. They want to work, to learn, they're not looking for excuses to do less work, which I find so many Australian-born workers do," she says.

She says that Aussie IT workers are just as good but there is a problem with attitude: "good doesn't mean much if they spend half their day on the Iconic, looking for shoes, or they argue the toss on every instruction you give them."

"No one is happy with the job they have now, they're always looking ahead to the next job. Indian-born IT workers understand that the way to get the next job is to do the best work possible at this job," she says.

"I've got absolutely no data to back up my thesis up but I've simply found the harder someone's upbringing has been, the harder they'll work and most Australian-born workers grew up easy and it engenders a sense of entitlement," she says.

Here is the link to the story: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/lazy-aussies-just-dont-want-to-work-20140530-zrrs6.html