Cheryl,

“They pay Prof Birrell's salary and about 30 percent of Monash's infrastructure and resource budget.”

Why is Monash important, and for whom?

runner
Things are not all bad - no-one is arguing that, but are we 'better' off. How do we define 'better'. It is different for everyone and I don't suggest it is a one-size fits all.

Happiness is another measure of 'wealth' - are we any happier. When I grew up we were not rich, we re-used goods, recycled, we never had luxury food, but this was not unusual - we had a happy childhood including a big backyard, fruit trees and home grown veg and entertaining was about getting together with friends rather than how much stuff we owned. Dad was a migrant with poor English in the early days which limited his work options until he later studied and did modestly well.

Are we better off? In some ways we are and most Australians would be relatively content if they are not in debt. We certainly have more stuff but we live in overcrowded cities, fight with peak hour traffic, work longer hours, spend less time with family, kids spend less time with their parents, have higher debt than previously and it is becoming harder to own a home not to mention issues with water.

This is not to diminish the many ways we are lucky in this country. We have access to a social safety net, retirement income, advances in technology have improved health and other scientific research (as well as some dubious 'advancements') just to name a few. It is not pessimism that drives this debate but concern for the future.

Where is the increased leisure/family time that technological advancement promised in the 70s?

Population debate has to be had - it can't be ignored forever. Population policy is not about anti-people it is very much pro-people and pro-community if handled in a mature and responsible way including immigration as needs require.

We have to look at relative things, I bet the people here 200 years ago would have been quite happy then if they didn't have to put up with the type of migrants or invaders they ended up getting, those who came here 150 years ago had to come the hard way then by boats we would be sceptical about today, and the parents of todays wingers just paid 10 pounds, so what are they doing now beside whinging, waiting for someone to pay their way back?

Cheryl,

So,you can't present any evidence to support your assertions. NB Ad hominem attacks on critics of high population growth don't count as evidence.

Pelican

I have no doubt the population debate needs to take place. I agree that wealth does not necessarily produce happiness although poverty definitely will produce misery.

I am sure that if you spoke to many in the 1970's they would of given all sorts of catastrophic predictions of what Australia would be like if we surpassed 15 million.

My belief is that we have plenty more to share with others. Just look at the obesity and amount of food thrown out at fast food places. Most of our pets eat better than much of the world. I think we would only benefit by sharing more of it with others. As you are aware I do however believe we should be diligent to share it with those who appreciate our freedoms and liberties and not those who want to impose their lifestyles on us.

As for shorter working hours I actually agree with you. Sometimes people work longer due to greed while some work because of need. We have false expectations that we must own a four bedroom home, a new car and the latest phone/computer by the time we are 25.

As I stated in my first post much of the peak hour traffic is a result of lack of planning. Cities in other parts of the world have many more people than we do. The good ones have put infrastructure in place.

Proper planning could also encourage new immigrants and other Aussie to live outside of the cities. Governments should be thinking about how many people we can take in although I am sure we have a lot more room right now.

OFCOURSE we need migrants BUT....
they must be of our own choosing and with the skills we want.
We should have the undisputed rights to decide how many and from where they should come.

socratease