Population Growth

[Rorschach]

Population growth is the elephant in the room, the one all pollies are ignoring. In fact ON was the last party to seriously address the issue and we all know what happened to them.

We know of course both major parties want a BIG Australia and that The Greens want open slather on immigration and asylum/refugee intakes.

Population growth has two drivers – by natural increase, when there are more births than deaths, and by net overseas migration, when more people immigrate than emigrate.

Australia has the fastest population growth rates among major developed countries, mainly due to a high rate of migration. The Bureau of Statistics projects that our population, now 23.8 million will grow to around 40 million in 2061, based on current trends.

"Despite our rapid population growth being at historic rates and among the highest in the world, it is all too rarely discussed," said the report, titled Population Growth in Australia.

Dr Denniss said that since the 2000 Olympics the population of Australia had grown 25 per cent.

"In fact, since the Sydney Olympics, Australia's population has grown more than the entire population of Sydney at that time," he said.

Population growth in Australia has been consistently highest in major capital cities. By 2060 Sydney and Melbourne are forecast to have populations greater than the whole of Australia in 1950.

"Overcrowding and under-resourcing has put huge pressure on our cities," Dr Denniss said.

[Black Orchid]

NSW faces one big challenge that has hardly rated a mention in the election campaign: population growth.

The population of NSW will increase by about half a million during the next term of parliament – that's roughly equivalent to adding another Newcastle. But neither major party has a detailed policy on how to respond to the projected increase.

Analysis by the Australia Institute shows that strong population growth means real budget spending per person in NSW will decline during the next term of government, no matter who wins Saturday's poll. Despite a torrent of election promises, the institute estimates state budget spending per capita will fall from $9000 this financial year to $8700 per person by 2017-18, after adjusting for inflation.

Dr Richard Denniss, the Executive Director of the Australia Institute, said there had been no acknowledgement of the implications of population growth during the election campaign. And he warned that the big-ticket infrastructure promises won't do much to reduce traffic jams and crowded trains.

"Mike Baird and Luke Foley have both claimed they want to deal with congestion," Dr Denniss said. "But population growth means that, at best, the big infrastructure projects being promised will only slow the rate at which congestion gets worse. They won't reduce congestion."

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-state-ele ... m7537.html

I was going to put this in the NSW state election thread but you beat me to it.

[Rorschach]

Feel free to put it there, I considered it but since immigration is federal I decided to dump it here on it's own.

[Neferti]

We really need to do "something" to Central Australia so people can start living out there. I have no idea what, but we definitely cannot sustain another 20 million Aussies living along the East Coast. WA is chokers almost as well. Nobody wants to live in Adelaide or Tassie. Other than limp wristed halfwits and Germanic Church attenders.

[Rorschach]

We really need to do "something" to Central Australia so people can start living out there. I have no idea what, but we definitely cannot sustain another 20 million Aussies living along the East Coast. WA is chokers almost as well. Nobody wants to live in Adelaide or Tassie. Other than limp wristed halfwits and Germanic Church attenders.

Water would be a good first move.... solve that and then you can think about moving and creating new population centres.

[Neferti]

We really need to do "something" to Central Australia so people can start living out there. I have no idea what, but we definitely cannot sustain another 20 million Aussies living along the East Coast. WA is chokers almost as well. Nobody wants to live in Adelaide or Tassie. Other than limp wristed halfwits and Germanic Church attenders.

Water would be a good first move.... solve that and then you can think about moving and creating new population centres.

I know. Aussies are usually so inventive but I guess there is no money in it to open up the Simpson Desert as livable space or somebody would have already thought about it.

There is a railway track (the Ghan) that runs from Adelaide to Darwin though. http://www.greatsouthernrail.com.au/

Plus the Great Southern http://www.greatsouthernrail.com.au/

If we can put down railway tracks, surely we can create a way for people to LIVE in the desert?

[Rorschach]

Nope.... there's just no political will or vision.

[boxy]

Population growth is the elephant in the room, the one all pollies are ignoring.

Bullshit. Most of them arn't ignoring it, they're actively encouraging it.

[Neferti]

Population growth is the elephant in the room, the one all pollies are ignoring.

Bullshit. Most of them arn't ignoring it, they're actively encouraging it.

Really? Through immigration you mean? What is it these days? 150,000 a year?

We will eventually have to settle this influx of annual migrants somewhere that is NOT a major city.

We should be working on some way to open up Central Australia as a destination for settlement ... surely there is something out there that can attract employment?

Perhaps the Chinese have some ideas? Regional Australia could also do with some influx of people (and jobs) ........ where are all the Aussie innovators and inventors when you need them?

[Outlaw Yogi]

Annually OZ accepts 180,000 migrants (including regugees and assylum seekers) and we get 20,000 illegal immigrants, who get to stay by just hanging around long enough for the amnesty every 5 years.
200,000 new people a year [excluding births] is a million people every 5 years who need somewhere to eat, sleep and shit.

Back when our pop was around 18 million the CSIRO came out with a report stating that Australia [its soils in particular] can only sustainably support 12 million people.
Meaning without cheap petro-chemical based fertilisers (and mining) we wouldn't be able to feed our current pop, let alone whatever projected fantasies our pollies have in mind.

The more people they bring in, the more that will suffer when we institute our population reduction programe. So get your jack boots now while they're still affordable.