In a previous post I said: "Australia's population is projected to be 35.5 million by 2056, which will place increasing pressure on the natural environment and its resources - these are ABS figures."

I was close. The recent Intergenerational Report put out by Australia's Treasurer Joe Hockey - says that our population will grow from about 24 million today to 40 million by 2055.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4192199.htm

After my post, my comments were written off by some. However now will these people accept that population growth in Australia WILL occur to around 40 million people by 2055, will they support the Liberal party or will they simply write off this report as a scare campaign?

Of course not!

Like Kevin Rudd, I want a big Australia. But unlike the Liberals I want good infrastructure to support it.

Aiden said:
But unlike the Liberals I want good infrastructure to support it.

Ahh well, but you are in SA ?
That explains it, otherwise that statement is inverted.

We need a larger population but we do not need a large population of people who expect the taxpayers to support them, welfare for lifers.

I also believe one large problem is the wages are proportionally to high from the top down.

We have a Prime Minister who gets more than the American President, lawyers, doctors etc fees are too high making the lower wage earners demand more and more.

Things need to be more even worldwide otherwise there is no intensive to manufacture anything in Australia where wages are much higher than other countries.

There are more factors that need to be considered to make the larger population sustainable without massive tax hikes and wagers blowouts.

Aiden Infrastructure is a very important part we do not have the water resources in the right locations for 40 million people, infrastructure is labor intensive so adds to prices especially at the wages demanded by workers.

Just look at how high water and electricity have risen since privatization.

Bazz, I was referring to the situation federally rather than in any particular state (although I am happy to discuss any state and have started a thread about transport infrastructure in NSW (in the elections section).

Neither major party is much good on this issue – they both seem to have an irrational fear of debt that often prevents anything from being done, and when they realise that they must do something, they tend to opt for expensive inefficient megaprojects without properly considering the alternatives. But the Liberals do seem to be far worse at the moment – and Tony Abbot's undoubtedly not an Infrastructure Prime Minister!

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Philip S, you're looking at the problem the wrong way round. Rather than whinging about welfare, we should be bringing opportunities to the people.

And if the Australian dollar were lower, the problem of wages being too high would no longer exist; conversely there's no amount of wage restraint that a higher dollar can't destroy the benefits of. So rather than worrying about wages (which haven't been rising very fast lately anyway) we should concentrate on producing genuinely high value products and services.

We will need, and indeed are building, more water infrastructure. That includes desalinators, so it's convenient that a large proportion of the population lives on the coast.

Infrastructure is usually labour intensive to build but less so to maintain, and the benefits are likely to increase in future. So it makes sense to spend money on infrastructure instead of mindlessly chasing surpluses.

The current growth rate, can be very much related to existing population growth of people already living in Australia - that being people of child bearing age, and their children who are yet to reach child bearing age - will continue to have children.

So in essence - it's realising that people in Australia, will not stop having children.

So the question should be Australia's population will keep growing, what do we do about it? Some examples include:

1. Reduce business immigration, lowering costs of this immigration
2. Limit the use of water, including poor upstream irrigation
3. Reducing environmental impacts - which taxpayers pay for
4. Existing citizens living more environmentally (as per above)
5. Better economic policies to improve employment and taxation income

We should be working towards reducing the impacts of human beings not making the situation worse.