Ease off

WHY all this pressure for population growth in South Australia (“People power key to growth of our state”, 30/7/13)?

Population growth does not necessarily lead to per capita GDP growth and rarely leads to increase in well-being or quality of life.

A state’s population has to be set in terms of what resources it has and, in particular, how much food can it grow. South Australia is the driest state on the driest inhabited continent and is very limited in this regard.

Will bringing in ever more people help youth in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, currently suffering up to 25 per cent unemployment? Probably not.

The reality is, of course, that population growth only benefits business by driving down wages, and real estate agents by creating demand for housing.

The rest have to endure higher house prices, congestion and pollution.

Why spoil a beautiful capital city and lovely state?

JENNY GOLDIE, national president, Sustainable Population Australia, Michelago, NSW.

Growth risks

HAS Nick Xenophon lost touch? If elected, he wants to boost migrant numbers and population growth in South Australia (The Advertiser, 7/8/13).

Is he aware that recent polls indicate around 70 per cent of the public are not in favour of a big population?

Has he considered the impact of growing demand on the Murray?

Does he understand that higher migration can at best defer an ‘’ageing population’’, as migrants also age?

Has he considered that a stable population will encourage skills to be developed locally, improving job opportunities for South Australians, especially younger people?

Has he considered the liveability of Adelaide and housing affordability?

GREG OATES, SA Senate candidate, Stable Population Party, Magill.

Do the maths

NICK Xenophon, like so many others, has fallen for the ageing myth.

Bringing in migrants to counteract the imagined problems with ageing only makes the problem worse not better.

In the 1950s and 1960s we were facing a severe labour shortage and so migration was a solution.

The situation we face today is radically different – we have 20 per cent of youth unemployment.

This basically means that the real problem demographic is the youth as they stay longer and longer on the taxpayers teat.

We also need to recognise that at 65 people do not magically lose all their skills and talents.

We are moving into a knowledge economy where people can work for much longer. Providing incentives to employ older workers and for workers to stay in the workforce is a better solution.

SA’s population is currently growing at a rate of 1.2 per cent a year. So in the last 12 months our population increased by about 20,000.

Nothing to worry about. That is until you start doing some basic arithmetic.

Each new resident requires an infrastructure expenditure of $200,000 to cover the costs needed to support that person. So government has to find billions of dollars to cover those costs.

How did they do this when money is tight?

The solution is simple – you simply require that essential services such as education, police and health have to cater for more people without a significant increase in their budgets.

Also, you transfer money that has been set aside for the maintenance of services like gas, water and electricity to spend it on providing services to the new developments.

Next you authorise the privatised utilities to increase their fees to cover some of the additional costs required.

Finally you just simply do not spend the money required on items like roads – people will just have to put up with more traffic congestion.

Put simply, the government’s policy of promoting population increase is paid for by reducing the quality of life for all South Australians; population growth is making most of us poorer.

It does benefit a few developers but is it really the job of government policy to make property developers richer?

JOHN TÖNS, Lenswood.

What price water?

I AM very concerned about the issue of overpopulation in the world today.

If overpopulation is to continue, it will only cause more problems for water and air pollution, along with the need for ever greater volumes of food and water to sustain our bugeoning population.

Even though the one-child policy was introduced in China, it doesn’t seem to be helping very much. If overpopulation is to continue we will be left fighting for our resources.

I think that it is important that people are aware of the consequences of out-of-control child birthing around the world.

LUCY BAMBRICK, Highgate.