we only let our cat onto the porch with a leash and only supervised. She gets to chase skinks and watch birds and bats but no opportunity to do more damage that than.
Both NZ and Australia are considering laws to make it illegal to allow cats outside after dark to try and give the native population a fighting chance.
We had a neighbourhood feral cat that was nearing the end of her life…one winter my nephew made her an outside cat residence from plywood and foam ( with protected openings ). Surprised the heck out of me but she started using it (still wouldn’t go near people) . The next year, when she probably couldn’t hunt anymore, he trapped her and brought her in. I’ve seen a feral cat accidentally in a house before (“wall of death” around the living room until it found an open window) so I thought “this won’t go well”. Turned out OK, she lived a couple more years with no desire to ever go out again. Didn’t like anyone but my nephew, though, but you could put a wash in (she hung out in the laundry room). 
That is not my experience at all. Most of the cats I have met who were forced to spend their life indoors were totally different from cats who were able to go outside on a daily basis. It’s not so hard to spot that difference.
They fear the outdoors because they don’t know it, but they are curious. I have met several cats who had lived indoors for years, one more than 10, who slowly started going outside when given the chance, and one of them went on rather long walks, we met him once more than a kilometre away from the house.
My two are strictly indoors as well. Too many coons and coyotes about. Then again, they make good hunting.
Letting domestic cats go outdoors is a great way to enable them to get killed or sickened by any number of things. The numbers don’t lie - indoor cats often live twice as long.
That’s not to say indoor cats don’t need physical and mental stimulation but it’s not hard to do. Regularly change out their toys, introduce new things into the environment like a new box or piece of packing paper, and make an effort play with them for 15-30 minutes every day. Some cats also thrive with a companion but every one is different and some are solitary.
Saying that they need to be outdoors seems like baseless projection to me.
I want the gophers, mice, and rats predated. The cats, possums, and skunks have a live and let live policy as they all work together toward that goal. And I much prefer when one of them gets any of those rodents, because they are quick and merciful by comparison to the crows who slowly beat their catch to death with their beaks.
It’s a bit of the same with people, they also don’t need to go out, just give them a TV and a treadmill, send them food (with drones), and have them work from home. No more traffic related deaths, pub brawls, infections etc. What’s not to like?
But seriously, a cat is not a thing you can own to enrich your life, and decide what’s best for them because it’s convenient. And duration of life and quality of life are not necessarily the same thing. Life bears risk, a rich life sometimes more so.
If anything, the fact that it’s dangerous for a cat to go out might be an indicator that you can’t have a cat when you live in a city (e.g. because of the traffic), and a not an argument that it’s a good idea to keep the cat indoors.
Cats evolved in nature, and in the wild they have a large territory. To imagine you could successfully simulate that experience in a house of 1500 square feet, where most of the space is covered by human things and/or off limits, sounds rather strange to me. And if you have to make an effort to play with your cat for 30 minutes a day, why would you have a cat in the first place?
Another little thing: if a cat can leave the house, they have agency. They could decide to stay somewhere else, and not come back, because it likes other people more than me. To keep them indoors is owning them. which just doesn’t feel right to me.
That’s a very human perspective, and not likely one a cat shares. Pets can escape when they are determined to do so. If they are satisfied they generally stick around.
Bell collars, heh!
eta: I say heh, because I think that cats can figure out how to move to not ring them.
I was talking about the possibility of discovering better options, not merely about escape.
That’s a really sweet story 
You’re overthinking it.
Small tinkly bell attached to cat collar. Classic solution.
Birds will flee at the slightest hint of predator - “Away to safety in the trees!” – and are thus seldom caught by belled cats.
Rats and mice, OTOH, seek safety by hiding, camouflaging, and staying vewwy vewwy quiet. Bell on cat makes no real difference – they already know the predator is stalking them, but they can’t fly away.
Not completely foolproof, but works with most cats most of the time.
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