I so agree. It would be more worthwhile to terraform the Australian outback or Gobi desert and put a forest and settlers there than oxygenated domes on Mars. Not to say that space exploration should never be an agenda, but rather we select projects that have a national or scientific ROI with little to no harm caused to any individual.

People don't care if their frontier is safe. The human drive to explore and stake out new lands has always been much stronger than their need for safety.