Once the Australian government bites the bullet and gets an effective population control policy running here, then it will be in a position to dictate to Iran and Somalia about theirs. Till then it will be merely the pot calling the kettle black.

government bites the bullet
Jon J,
In the present case it would be wiser to suggest they get it !

Excellent article, except for the strange title, "States need to intervene in population policies".

States need to STOP intervening in population policies.

All support for making new babies should be withdrawn (at 9-month notice), including the baby bonus, compulsory/paid maternity leave, free health and education, etc.

I would never support an oppressive Chinese-like one-child policy, but people must understand that bringing children to the world, which burdens the ecology of this planet, should be considered just like any other hobby, with the full costs on those who pursue it.

Otherwise, welcome Ateday, I agree with every word!

Some of the Mickey Mouse solutions to over-population proffered above would have me rolling of the floor, weren’t it for the fact that I’ve just consumed at least two UN approved quotas of breakfast.

1) <<Food supply will limit growth>>

Observation alone should tell anyone that this is a no-goer –it doesn’t apply in the modern world.

Famine after famine after flood sees the “good world citizen ” nations like Oz take in hundreds of thousands through various “humanitarian” schemes and hand-out billions in aid.

The preference is not to tell the famine afflicted that they should have fewer kids. But to tell the non-famished that they should lower their standard of living: eat fewer meat dishes, stop the space program –and subside the poor more.

The US is vilified for encouraging the use of corn in ethanol production since it adversely impacts on the price of grain in Egypt.
And if a tsunami swamps the Ganges river delta, it’s never the case that there are so many Bangladeshis that they have to utilize every available niche whether risky or reliable. Rather it’s the case of the developed world throwing the weather out of kilter through AGW –and, please forward the compensation cheque.

2) << empowering women …dictating terms>>
Some of the other *easy* solutions also have a decided rodent-like smell . With or without a zero population policy Australia is never going to be in a position to “dictate to Iran or Somalia” or anyone else. And as for empowering women, how do you propose to do that (this side of the year 3000)short of a Iraqi style regime change – and, look where that got us.

The alternative to a one-child policy where women with more than one child per lifetime can no longer vote IS Global War where 5-6 billion people will die within the NEXT 30 YEARS.

Better make up your minds now what you WANT from this fragile living space as the CLOCK is ticking at the rate of 75+ million successful births globally per year.

The notion that education of women will stop this infinite growth stupidity is feeble when you listen to an overwhelming majority of Australian schoolgirls who can't wait to get FREE and have kids to get onto the proverbial EASY STREET.

Those who are blind to this reality will never understand women. They set themselves up for gross injustice, not just from lazy women but from the politicians and wealthy powerbrokers(incl women) who inflame the problem & corral women like livestock with bridezilla media propaganda.

The fact is if you give a kid a football in a glass shop and tell her not to kick it you cannot say that nature will self regulate the fate of the shop. Clearly it WON'T.

Certain folks who THINK they are smart, need to GROW UP and smell the "women are godesses on a pedestal" lies they are shoveling. We may all soon end up Grilled by a neutron bomb. But lets at least KNOW why!. In this world and the NEXT, Truth always sets you FREEE.

KAEP,

Let me see if I've got this right. You are suggesting that population will cause a thermo-nuclear holocaust. This is a new one.

So far on OLO re the anti-pops we've had civil war (in Australia) aka Rawanda, drought, killer heat waves, rising sea levels, earth quakes, increased crime rate, famine, invasion by Indonesia, tidal waves, tidal waves of refugees, running out of superphosphate (more famine), pestilence and my favourite - the Mayan prophesy. I'm sure there's more.

Now I'm not saying that all this won't come to pass, but you'd have to admit, looking through the single lens of 'population' with birth numbers in steep decline in Europe, that this seems unlikely.

It is far easier for a feral hippy with doomsday fantasies to fit through the eye of a needle, than for the anti-pops to inherit the kingdom of reason.