We need far fewer people then we won`t need more densely crowded housing estates covering fertile soil with concrete and bitumen and destroying our life support system.
The Environment.

Cogent, well researched, credible, compelling article, that reads with the ring of truth!

And as almost always with the self serving troglytes at the conflicted, confused helm?

Excellent advice falling on deaf ears!

Were this not the inarguable truth! Springfield would just not stand alone as the finest example thus far, of how to develop a future Australia!

And begging for missing leadership?

As opposed to the kindi and squabbling, self serving, juveniles (infants terrible) currently handed the keys to power, in a house labeled the nation's parliament!

Commonsense, the least common feature of stack em and rack em, city centric developers! And exacerbated by words that unambiguously meant one thing last century, reinterpreted as meaning something completely new, with a flag change/today.

I mean if our current head of state were to abdicate, migrate here and become a sworn new Australian, the nonsense the high court has made out of section 44 of the constitution would forever bar her, a former head of state, from applying for high office or sitting if elected!

The inmates are running the Asylum?

Little wonder there's just one Springfield and we've banned peaceful purpose nuclear power, even though it as walk away safe, molten salt thorium, would completely resuscitate our manufacturing base, and water a dry continent, thereby allowing a couple of dozen Springfields, to spring up all over the joint!
Alan B.

While I can agree with the suggestion that these planned communities can be better than in fill or highrise development in inner city suburbs, some of them are definitely destined to become slums, much more quickly than earlier developments.

I recently travelled through an area of Sutherland, [Sydney] I knew very well in the late 50s, early 60s. What was then a nice leafy but low priced area is now horrible, with far too many 6 packs, & too much infill development. The area was over packed with cars, all over the street & foot paths, as too many multi car families tried to fit in too small an area.

I have also recently driven through Yarrabilba, a new version of Springfield, with the houses packed even tighter together. Rather like Inca built stone walls, I'm doubtful you could fit a sheet of paper between the houses, so small are the blocks. This does offer house & land packages for under $300,000, still about 800% dearer than 25 years ago, but destined to be a major slum area in my opinion.

Once populated by 2 child families, aging to 4 car families these places will be no better than old Sutherland, & actually worse, with their much narrower streets.

Of course we need to stop immigration dead. However if we do, what will the hundreds of thousands employed in domestic building trades & supply industries do for a living?

John Howard did many good things for Oz, but boy did he leave us some problems with his gun & immigration policies.

Sooner I'm sure, shanty slums on the edge of our cities (and towns), will be the norm again. As in the 50's.

As hasbeen rightly pointed out, the development highlighted in this article, is actually another backward step into the desperation of Asian poverty: it's good for Australia apparently

"while we continue to pump yet more people into limited spaces."

So stop pumping.

And redirect population to country towns and regional cities (already built!), with tax rebates for businesses located there.

Has And Diver, good points.

If we cut back on the massive immigration! How will we employ the folk we have now? A resuscitated and thoroughly rationalized manufacturing sector?

Very doable with two key elements. Worlds lowesting costing energy, thorium. and world's most efficient manufacturing paradigm.

Private enterprise, free market, union free, cooperative model! Stands out as the only private business model mostly survived the Great Depression, largely intact!

All that prevents a proactive government from preferencing this model/family entrepreneurial enterprise, [our own people and their better ideas,] is the political will!

After all, we already have a two trillion dollar super fund and could with intelligent foresight, leverage another lazy two trillion sitting in multinational company coffers, just looking for safe bets!

Currently we dump glass as waste into landfill, all while shipping silica sand to Korea, who use our gas to turn it into glass, then ship it back, with a two way transport component!

We need fair dinkum tax reform, unavoidable flat tax of 15%, devoid of any exclusions, write downs etc/etc. Coupled to a higher threshold, linked to the CPI!

With that done, create currently underpopulated, special tax free zones, well away from overcrowded capital cities!

And in so doing, move the jobs to where folks would live, if only there were jobs.

Once the areas became new Springfields, and populated self regeneration areas, the tax free status could be progressively wound back.

The final piece of the jigsaw is water! Available as deionization dialysis desalination. As such, cheaper/cleaner/safer, than much more expensive, absolutely rain dependant dams; and much more reliable!

Thereby turning vast tracts of virtual wasteland into food bowls that'll employ thousands!

We could do it, if only we had 30 year self terminating bonds and a persuasive Leader with a cogent plan and absolutely nothing ruled in or out on the energy front!

Let the bloated bellicose, belligerent, parasitic developers, debt laden foreign speculators, white shoe brigade, scream their collective heads off. Simply put, they add very little and are part of a growing gridlock/congestion problem!
Alan B.

As I said earlier, Cheap affordable energy is a critical key. And that energy just has to be, cheaper than coal, thorium.

Walk away safe, shielded, molten salt thorium reactors can be container sized, mass produced $40 MW models, capable of producing enough heat (750C) to decompose water, as solid state, catalytically assisted, automatic water molecule cracking!

With copious hydrogen production then fed immediately, directly into solid state fuel cells to create, quite massive, 80% coefficient, electricity generation, minus moving parts!

Even so, the inboard water, almost completely replenished via the cell, which produces equivalent, pristine, recoverable water vapor!

From time to time the catalyst will need to be changed, with the old material recycled and reused! Water will need very occasional topping.

Which ought to allow shipping container sized, complete mass produced factory built models to power massive road trains, overhead wire free, rapid rail and very fast, four pack roll on roll off ferries, connecting our export production to our Asian customers?

One could e.g., power a decent sized complete dairy operation inclusive of a pasteurization plant, a fleet of rechargeable electric delivery vehicles and some overnight irrigation, with a single module!? And doable, given all the known costs, would be mostly up front and at today's costs!

Or modest employee owned manufacturing/canning/bottling/frozen food/recycling, co-ops! The list goes on and on!

As factory produced modules, not much dearer than similar diesels?

The only difference, still powering on, without moving parts, costly lubrication and maintenance, as the diesels wear out and grind to a halt!

Only prevented by endless political postering/prevarication and or, common sense/science free zone!?

Can't died in a cornfield over a century ago!
Alan B.

Apologies and correction, the $40 MW should just read 40 MW!
Alan B.