davidf: "I would like to see Australia have a population of 13,000,000. I would like to see a reduction in population all over the world. How do I persuade my many descendants not to do what comes naturally? As an emigrant to Australia how can I say in fairness that I can come here, but you can't?"

Lead by example: get out of the country and/or dispose of yourself.

Unfortunately, the Malthusians are taken seriously in this country, so we may as well write its future off. Most of the world just doesn't listen to the genocidal Malthusian hypocrisy anyway or, if it does, it just laughs.

Yes. People questioning the value of population growth are all morons and should just go and shoot themselves. Wing Ah Ling's effort -I dont have to prove that population growth is beneficial, but you have to prove that it is harmful.- in my opinion is better than -I'd love to show you how wrong you all are, but I dont have the time right now.-, but still falls a little short I think. Also, Wing's complaint about the word limit and only being able to post twice each day is a little curious. Surely the idea is that you post information that supports your position, and surely a few weeks is enough to outline your argument? I cant see how arguing that you dont have to justify your position helps all that much.

Apologies for not responding to posts by Wing Ah Ling and others.

I intend to get back to them.

In the meantime, the forum at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=8485&page=0 in response to my article:

"How the growth lobby threatens Australia's future"

... at http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8485&page=0 may be of interest.

Wing Ah Ling, don’t tell me you’ve abandoned this thread…..for the second time!

Come on matey, we’ve got a long way to go yet.

Wing Ah Ling wrote, "The issue is not whether to ‘hand over’ decision-making power to ‘corporations’. Most people are not corporations."

Either large enterprises which provide essential services are controlled by entities (i.e. governments) which are, or can be made accountable to the people, or they are not.

When Telstra was privatised, control was not handed across to the 'people', but to a corporation.

Wing Ah Ling wrote, "Two redeeming features of corporations are that, absent governmental privileges, all their profits are a direct reflection of the behaviour of the mass of the people, as consumers, in preferring their goods and services over all the other options that the consumers could have spent their money on. The same cannot be said of the revenues of government, which are obtained by force (taxation) or fraud (monetary policy)."

Does Wing Ah Ling believe that most of us have any choice but to pay for telephone services, electricity, water, etc?

Taxation is the price of civilisation and most citizens pay taxes willingly knowing that essential services we all depend upon are most efficiently provided by the Government.

A sociopathic minority resent paying taxes and would prefer to see our society crumble to dust rather than pay their fair share.

That is too bad IMHO.

(The above is not intended to be a complete response to Wing Ah Ling's ideological diatribe, rather, it is intended to prevent this thread from being closed before I can respond in full to it.)