Indi, there is no optimism from me, I would agree 14 billion, 28 million, whatever, unsustainable. Put simply unless there is some fantastic, miraculous breakthroughs with technology, and unlike now, that technology is shared equally around the world. then a massive world population is totally unsupportable.

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

unless there is some fantastic, miraculous breakthroughs with technology,
Paul1405,
This technology has been around for 40 or more years, it's called birth control. What we need is a healthier mentality. A National service will see to that. It could be step 1 in making young adult people realise rid themselves of that insanity that is the steeping stone of most of the evil, religion ! They then can enlighten their children & within a few short years we'd have a healthier society with a healthier mentality. The first generation of teachers from that enlightenment can then spread this healthier mentality among the even younger. Do-gooders will be replaced in no time by real philanthropists & the snowball will begin its journey in earnest. It will transcend to all people around the globe. Over population will be a thing of the mysterious past. Academics will try to throw spanners into the works but eventually even they will involuntarily smarten up, as long as they do smarten up is the main objective.

Great post on the situation in Queensland, Ludwig

Paul,

Where is your evidence that Australia is underpopulated? The Australian Academy of Science recommended a safe upper limit of 23 million in 1994, before the full extent of the risks from climate change and resource depletion were understood. "Boundless plains" is unmitigated guff. Australia is really a small to medium sized country wrapped around a big desert. See these rainfall and soil quality maps from Chris Dixon of the CSIRO.

http://www.australianpoet.com/boundless.html

Refugee crises and problems of poverty, environmental degradation, and failure to properly manage emerging diseases such as ebola and XDR TB are almost entirely due to the cultures of the people afflicted by them. There is really no such thing as a poor country. Garrett Hardin (Tragedy of the Commons) once calculated that with a population of 3 million, the Bangladeshis could be the richest people on Earth. If anything, development should be much easier for the latecomers than for the people who pioneered it. They know that development is possible and know what policies are needed to achieve it. There are numerous examples from Europe, North America, and East Asia. Furthermore, they can learn from our mistakes and leapfrog over obsolete, dirty technology. It is because of their cultures that they haven't done this. Unfortunately, the only dysfunctional culture that anyone can hope to change is his or her own. There are all sorts of ways that we can help the people in poor countries, but only if they themselves decide to adopt the necessary cultural change. "A man convinced against his will/ Is of the same opinion still."

Your idea of opening our borders will simply make Australia as poor, populous, environmentally degraded, and conflict ridden as the countries that poor people are risking their lives to escape. Perhaps we too can be a source of refugees rather than a destination. Defending ourselves from this fate is not impossible or idiotic. Israel has managed to hold the Arab world at bay for almost 70 years, despite being outnumbered many times over. Perhaps we should learn from them.

Back to what I originally said "It seems to me economic growth is treated as being unquestionable, sacrosanct, by both the Labor and Liberal Parties,>>
The reason economic growth is so important to both the Liberal and Labor Parties, is with their total commitment to population growth, Australia has to achieve 3% economic growth just to break even with population growth. The world population will grow by at least 3 time Australia's total population in the next year.

Paul 1405, "The reason economic growth is so important to both the Liberal and Labor Parties, is with their total commitment to population growth"

Whereas the lunar Greens merely want to throw open Australia's (and Centrelink's) doors to all-comers to 'solve' world over-population.

The Greens have no problem demanding that young Aussie couples deny themselves the children they want, but their Green Left cultural cringe says it is OK, a duty even, for Australia (that achieved zero population growth decades ago and maintained that goal at the behest of leftie academics!) to accept and support the teeming millions from countries where men refuse to holster their short arm, or at least wear a condom.

Beach, more "balanced" comment from you. Totally misrepresenting Greens immigration policy, with nonsense. What is "your" policy on immigration.
Australia First and their leader Jim Saleam, can make all the right noises, but scratch the surface and you will expose a lunatic fringe group hell bent on inflicting some demented form of national socialism on Australia. The danger with these lunatics is not what they say, but what they don't say.