Controlling our borders will be much more difficult when our own region starts to see large-scale displacement of people from climate change.
Population growth
Australia’s population is growing at twice the world average. But is there enough room on this wide brown land for any more people? News and views from Crikey and around the country.
What we don’t need in a population policy
So while Australia’s total population is a matter of legitimate concern, so are many other things — its distribution, its skill composition, its age and gender profile. To target each independently in advance is a recipe for policy overload.
Population in Australia: 2050 versus 1950?
There’s a difference in population between crowded and congested. The real issue they ignore is that Australia and Australians must change their ways — that business as usual is inadequate.
Kelly: Rudd the improv politician
Tony Burke is population minister, a vague portfolio which isn’t expected to produce any results until after the election but might help placate voters. Will it work? asks Paul Kelly.
Malcolm Fraser: a champion for immigration and a bigger Australia
Malcolm Fraser opened the door to Vietnamese refugees in the late 1970s and championed a larger Australia through immigration. Here, in an extract from the new Fraser biography, he remembers the birth of multiculturalism.
Maths the first casualty in the population debate
The population debate will produce much heat but little light if it continues the way it started. The coalition may be unclear on population policy — just like Labor is — but they’re keen to connect it to refugees.
Stop migration and risk wage inflation and interest rate hikes
The temporary population of Australia cannot continue to increase by 130,000 per annum, yet the high demand for labour cannot simply be switched off, writes Peter McDonald.
The population debate goes boom
Daily media wrap: The already fiery population debate is set to turn into a raging inferno this week, with Labor appointing a new Population Minister and Tony Abbott asking the pertinent Easter question: what would Jesus do?
Rudd’s population populism
Tony Burke’s appointment as Population Minister suggests the Government continues to feel it has to demonstrate that it has Australia’s borders under control, writes Bernard Keane.
Dick Smith: the people have spoken, halt population growth
For the past three months Dick Smith has been travelling the country talking to people about plans to rapidly increase Australia’s population. Nine out of 10 oppose the idea, he says.
Bob Carr: Why our cities will really choke with population growth
The population debate is not about multiculturalism, says former NSW premier Bob Carr: it’s about how adding millions of people to our nation’s population will affect the environment, water reserves, economy, infrastructure and quality of life.
Joye: We will have 40 million people by 2050
Does the government’s latest population projection of 36 million residents by 2050 significantly underestimate the likely rate of growth, just like they have in the past? asks Christopher Joye.
The growing debate on Australia’s growth
Daily media wrap: As Crikey’s focus on population growth continues, we take look at what the commentariat has been saying this week about Australia becoming a wider, browner land.
Populate or perish?
What does population growth mean for environmental policy? asks the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Charles Berger.
Crikey Says: Population growth — it’s time we talked about it
Australia’s population is growing at twice the rate of the rest of the world. Is growth a dirty word?
There is no ideal Oz population size
Excuse me Australian parliament, but the environmental ‘elephant in the room’ isn’t population growth, argues James Arvanitakis. It’s about how we deal sustainably with our population, no matter the size.
Population goes boom then bust?
35 million people has been the standard Australian government population projection for 2050. But where does this figure come from and should we really rely so heavily on immigration to boost our numbers? asks Bob Birrell.
Copenhagen: who will dare mention population growth?
All these hours spent discussing climate change at Copenhagen will have been superflous unless there is a serious and frank discussion about population growth, writes Charlie Brooks.
Crikey Says: Don’t mention the “r” word
There are signs that the largely undiscussed pact between Australia’s major political parties not to exploit issues of race, immigration and population may be breaking down.
