Our population numbers have never really concerned me, other than being unable to support everyone and we do suffer badly from distribution. What concerns me is where we are heading so far as jobs creation and, where in the hell we are going to get the funds to support those already here, let alone those poised to arrive. Australia is a huge country with a very small population however under our current welfare system, along with the decline in real jobs for the future we should be putting an immediate stop to any immigration, at least until we can work out how to cater for all here, and return ourselves to a 'go forward' nation. Lets face it, growth on the back of debt is not sustainable. Nor is a welfare system that supports people who simply want to move here.

There's a lot more to sustainability than population and standard of living. If we value the environment and take advantage of the latest technology to reduce (and in some cases reverse) our destructive environmental impact, we could easily double our population and still have a higher standard of living than today. Conversely if we treat the environment with the contempt that many OLO posters do, even 13 million is too many.

A higher population has good and bad effects, but IMO the good outweighs the bad. And the case for higher population would be a lot stronger if only we took advantage of the opportunities it creates. Having more people makes it more economically viable to improve our infrastructure, benefitting existing residents as well as the newcomers. But instead the politicians underinvest in infrastructure then blame the immigrants for the problems.

Indeed the same goes for a lot of the immigrants themselves. Instead of trying to prevent refugees coming here, we should be trying to profit from them coming here. But currently our regular migration rules discriminate against refugees, and our refugee policy actively prevents people from helping themselves.

Most of the dairy and chicken farms and market gardens that supported 1,000s of families in Western city and supplied the Sydney markets have now been developed into housing estates. These products now have to be imported or trucked from further afield. We now have the case of large dairies in the Hunter now being closed because Woolworths and Coles down the prices of milk and dairy farming is no longer viable. We must do what Trump has done and put restrictions on imported good and protect Australian industries and products. Employment is reliant on industry and supplying basic goods for survival, water, food and energy.

Aidan,
You have a lot of explaining to do.

Para 1. How do we reduce impact on the enviroment and at the same time double our population and have a higher standard of living?

para 2. Where can we take advantages of what opportunities and where do we get the funds to build infastructure?

para 3. How do we profit from bringing more refugees here and how do we prevent refugees from helping themselves?

The ball is in your court. I would like some some practical and definitive answers. Frankly I think your post is all leftist theory and wish full thinking.

The size of Australia is irrelevant as 70% of it is desert and unlivable. Most people live in coastal cities, and there is very little room left in them, and infrastructure is not keeping up. There are too many people here now, and there should be no more. The system will have enough trouble coping with natural population increases without bringing more outsiders here.

Australia is like a huge water tank on an inadequate stand, it's never been filled up and the weight of the water will eventually cause the stand to fail.

Time to stop the pumps.