My thoughts on population I've said before:
Though I can't help but notice Cheryl always interjecting specifically in population debates and decrying naysayers as secret socialist pinkos- I'm starting to wonder if she works in real estate.

For the topic- until someone approaches our states with an earnest attempt to create some regional metropolises, and aims to use these first to entice residents of existing cities to relocate there to ease up some room and hopefully provide enough space to redesign our existing cities into better connected satellites instead of gargantuan sprawls, and then to further build such cities to accommodate our increase in population- this topic will continue chasing its own tail.

The usual arguments of a need for a large population are usually based on nothing but patriotic racism towards Indonesia allegedly wanting to invade us; or lobbying bodies trying to sell property and household energy resources.
Not to mention often false- and requiring that the author (and audience) don't ever check the population of some of the richest per-capita countries on the planet.

*But what about economic growth, Yabby?*

Squeers, just recently I downloaded an amusing little app called
"Angry Birds in Rio", for $5.99. Not just me, but along with
the original "Angry Birds", last time I checked, another 12
million paying customers had done the same.

Now this stuff is not rocket science, simply a good idea and a bit
of tinkering in Finland IIRC. 70 million$ plus of economic
growth is the result, no trees chopped down or marshes cleared.

Now a smart fellow like yourself, full of good ideas, should have
no trouble doing similar, generating all that economic activity
for Australia, at the expense of rich Western consumers who happily
pay for such amusing things.

The point is, there are many ways to generate economic activity,
without the Ponzi scheme that we are using, ie building more
houses for more people, to administer more people and borrowing
the money from overseas to do it.

Sheltered by man's built environment

For those wanting a glimpse of the future, have a look at the major roads over the Easter weekend, particularly roads from Brisbane to the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast, or roads such as the Bruce Highway.

Easter weekend will probably be a normal weekend in the future if our population continues to increase.

It is somewhat sad to see the traffic on the Bruce Highway. About ever 3rd car has camping gear, and about every 5th car is towing a boat.

The camping grounds are hell on earth over the Easter weekend, and I have seen over 60 boats in a small stretch of river in Nth QLD, and I know they are likely to be catching nothing, because there are few fish left.

Also, Australia’s current birth rate is below replacement levels, and I have always wondered if there is something fundamentally wrong with a society that cannot maintain its population.

If Australia is deemed not suitable to breed in, why should we be inviting in immigrants.

Vanna, our birthrate is not below replacement level. This is a furphy spread by unscrupulous people like Peter Costello.

With net zero immigration, we would still have a considerable population growth rate, due only to births.

So, even though the individual fertility rate is just under 2, the effective national fertility rate is significantly above 2. This is due to there being a disproportionately high number of young breeding people in the population.

Most people are confused by this, but it’s not that difficult to grasp. Trouble is, we have irresponsible people in highly influential positions asserting the opposite.

Thank goodness Costello has done a runner! Now if we could just get his baby: the bloody awful baby bonus, to follow him into oblivion, we’d be much better off.

Don't worry Vanna. Australians are breeding only too well. According to the latest figures from ABS (the year to September 2010): "The preliminary natural increase recorded for the year ended 30 September 2010 (159,800) was 2.1% (or 3,300 persons) higher than the natural increase recorded for the year ended 30 September 2009 (156,500)." The fertility rate was 1.7+ for a number of years then shot up to 1.96 in 2008 (very likely thanks to the baby bonus and to Peter Costello telling people to have 'one for the country) then went back to 1.9 in 2009. It will take years before we reach zero natural increase at this rate.