Peter

Excellent summary ; should be read by every politician ( but doubts on nuclear).

A couple of points:

1. Needs to be emphasised that our high immigration policy does not have popular mandate. It is clearly Gov. policy, but no Party or Gov. dares to seek endorsement for it. Reason is simple, they know they do not have one. So "Policy" is totally undemocratic.

2. Many eminent persons have arrived at cost benefits of immigration; eg Bob Birrol (yesterdays Australian) and Access. But analyses do not take account of infrastructure costs. Every resident, tourist, immigrant, student requires supporting infrastructure in order to function. Never have I seen the cost of this included in any analysis; yet it is almost certainly the highest cost of all to the nation in this context.

Governments are keen to capture the benefits of high population growth for their big Business mates, but not so keen to fund infrastructure to the "non diluting" level required, if existing population is not to be disadvantaged. Overcrowded Public transport and worsening hospital service are examples of this.

I estimate each new resident requires of the order of $300,000 to $500,00 in infrastructure expenditure, if current standards are to be maintained. If I am right then this clearly destroys the positive analyses (these are mostly very marginal anyway).

I cannot prove my numbers beyond doubt, since there are no Government statistics at all on this ( please anyone correct me if I am wrong). However a recent report, commissioned by the state Department of Planning, cites research that found "for every 1000 dwellings, the cost for infill development (in existing suburbs) is $309 million and the cost of fringe developments is $653 million".

Thus a relatively small part of total infrastructure costs $ 653, 000 per household for each new fringe household , or say $170, 000 per new person. This cost mainly falls to State and Federal Governments and is met from taxes and represents lost investements for the benefit of existing populations.

I wish some Academic institution would give more thought to this issue.

Professor Ridd has put his finger on one aspect of our environmental problems. We can limit immigration to Australia, but that merely means that there is a greater increase in population outside of Australia. We must not only limit immigration to Australia, but also must cooperate with and support international population planning efforts outside of Australia.

However, this is not a problem that can be solved just by technology and organization. We have to confront not only the real estate lobby but the Catholic Church and all other institutions who see population growth as an advantage to them or support it on ideological grounds and disregard its consequences

Nothing can keep growing forever, and clearly our population is out of control. Governments and the building industry and land developers have direct favours from and access to our government, not average citizens. Immigration and racism are different things. We are being silenced by political correctness about "racism", when the truth is that it is the public who will have their pockets raided to pay for this unsustainable growth. Governments are sponsored by the growth industry, and they will continue to collect more taxes and charges from land developments, immigration fees and tertiary education for international students. The desalination plant in Victoria is an example. The public will pay for soaring water costs because the Property Council of Australia (the growth lobby) have been allowed to dominate our Federal and State Governments' policies. Our natural resources are finite, but not our pockets!

Why don't you bugger off and leave the people alone , so you don't want to breed thats fine by us ; probably a good idea .

Every thing is becoming askew to "Peopledom" , Government interference in the Building industry for example has made Building a Home nigh on impossible for an individual this has led to a modest home now valuing out to 500.000 this means ordinary people will probably never pay their loan out ; the other issue here is the Bureaucracy , these people have become so ingrained with the Building industry especially the Project Builders that a lot of people prefer to use them to avoid the mind bending frustration dealing with them ; a sort of "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" approach , very rewarding for all concerned except the poor ordinary bloke and his family who will probably never get to own it .
If you had your way they wouldn't be here , how does this relate to Laws regarding Homicide , why would it be so bad to just put them down if they can't get to join the BMW Club , what really is the difference since your happy to kill them off in the Dream/Ambition stage of a young Couples life .

Compared to Asian Countries how can you possibly claim Oz is a developed Country , we have massive areas of undeveloped land all it needs is water .
We are Dumb Asses , we apparently don't have any Scientists with enough energy and gumption to think outside the square , what is rain , condensed atmospheric water , so why don't we duplicate what happens naturally in the atmosphere in a contained atmosphere here on Terra Firmer using solar heat to evaporate sea water then Huge Condensers to collect the condensate eg; water .

I'm in agreement with Cheryl. Why, because I am 69 years of age. I have raised 5 children to become productive adults. Each one is providing a necessary product or service to our community. I am also still working and because I have been productive and frugal I will probably never become a burden on the Australian taxpayers. I'm also green, living with a light footstep on the environment.
I approve of our universities educating young people from overseas which allows some of them to leave their crowded countries and become youthful taxpayers within Australia.
I approve of the baby bonus to encourage Australian parents to have Australian born children as another young generation of taxpayers.
There is only a shortage of water in our cities due to the manner in which it is presently wasted. The same with a possible shortage of electricity. There needs to be more attention to 'walking with a light footstep' not wasting these resources.
People do need to be encouraged to live outside the major cities to avoid the cost of infrastructure in such places.
Rural people do need to be paid a reasonable price for the products they produce - not allow cheaper imports into Australia as part of the 'level playing field'.
There is no real shortage of either water or land for food production within Australia if non-productive city residents are able to pay the true value. Our country will be able to feed a population of five times the 20 million we now accommodate.
However, the main reason that I want to see our birth rate continue or young educated foreigners allowed to immigrate to Australia is that it is the young people of the world who are innovators. It will be the countries with a 'young' not an 'aged' population that will lead the way in innovation for the future. They will be the ones who can show the remainder of the world to 'walk with a light footstep'.

An interesting side light to this is the difference between private & public industry.

Private industries all want to grow. The bigger the better, & more proffitable it seems. Economies of scale are one of their main objectives.

So how come our public enterprises can't do the same thing? Even corporatised public industry can't get with it.

Just a couple of days ago our Anna, & her Energex lot were telling us we must pay much more for ouy power, increasingly for 6 or more years.

Well what a surpries, they have been giving consecutive incompetent governments huge dividends for years, but what's the excuse? Population growth is the culprit. Although their take has grown, extensively, more customers require higher prices. No economies of scale for energex. Even if their capacity utilisation has increased by 10%, their profits are down.

I would love a few days, with their books, to see if it's government interference, or management incompetence that can't run a company in a growing market.