Shorbe

[I’m just back from a couple of weeks out bush]

“If you looked at the population projections, you'd see that our population is actually tipped to level off (or even drop) by mid-century.”

Yes…without immigration! With immigration at anything like its current level, our population will just keep on growing.

“Despite what you're saying, Australia simply isn't experiencing massive population growth.”

Not compared to some African or Asian countries.

“One percent per year is nowhere near massive and it's not out of control.”

1% pa is not that small. It means a doubling time of about 72 years. Growth rates are much higher in SEQ, Perth, and lots of smaller coastal centres. It is not out of control. In fact, the immigration rate and various regional rates are just fine by the federal govt, and relevant state and most relevant local govts.

“The reason some urban areas are out of control is because there are too many vested (short term) interests involved.”

The reason some growth rates are so high is indeed at least partly due to too many vested interests.

“As far as limiting population growth, firstly, you can't stop people having children.”

Limiting population growth in Australia has got nothing to do with stopping anyone from having kids. And in my view, everyone should be able to have as many kids as they want, just as long as the average family size is not greater than replacement level (~2.05). We don’t even need to introduce incentives to have fewer kids. But I would argue that we most definitely should not have incentives to have more kids, such as Costello’s parent bribe, er um…baby bonus.

More next time