Australia’s Population Challenge

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There are five issues to be addressed.

First is limiting families to two children and not encouraging excessive family size through government subsidies or other means. Most developed societies have reached this state – just look at some European countries’ declining birth-rates.

Second is understanding the impact of individuals and populations on environmental services in order that we can all take greater responsibility for, and be mindful of, our footfall on the planet. This will help in the process of changing behaviour and bringing about political change.

Third is changing the economic model so that it is not predicated on the simplistic notion of economic growth and is instead built on wellbeing growth – wealth creation based on social cohesion, resilience and life satisfaction.

The fourth issue is to change the whole debate. The predicated upheavals that will be caused by climate change and overpopulation mean that debates about a few hundred or thousand migrants will inevitably become decisions concerning hundreds of thousands in the next few decades.

We need to think and plan now for these eventualities.

Fifth because much of the current growth debate is based on needing more people in employment to support an aging population we need to rethink the balance between birth, growing up, learning, working, belonging and dying.

If we see life as a continual learning process and work as rewarding and enriching then learning and working will become continuous interplays throughout life rather than segregated activities with rigid endpoints.

Research being carried out in the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at Griffith Business School shows that the world is slowly, much too slowly probably, moving towards a low carbon sustainable enterprise economy model based on these principles.

Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world and significant population growth is already leading to a range of pressures in many cities. This is also the case across developing and advanced economies and includes public services, infrastructure, housing, energy, food and water supplies, and, under current policy, Australia is faced with significant population growth in the foreseeable future.

A recent report commissioned by Griffith University’s urban research program suggests that South East Queensland is receiving an additional 1500 residents each week and is expected to add another 1 million by 2026.

Melbourne’s population growth has recently been predicted to grow by 1.8 million by 2036. Sydney assumes that its population will grow by 1.2 million by 2031. Perth expects to double its 2001 population to 2.2 million by 2031.

A significant proportion of this population is likely to grow internally, thanks to the Australian government’s baby bonus policy. There will also be a resurgence of new immigrants from Asian countries mainly through skilled and family migration programs.

This also needs to be seen in the context of added pressures from climate refugees from low-lying countries in Asia and the Pacific region due to the likely threats of global warming and sea level rise.

The existing transport systems are already struggling under the strain of new growth. Congestion problems in many parts of Australian cities, while far less than in many other cities around the world, has become enormous issues for local government.

There is no doubt that the flows of traffic and passengers within Australian cities are expected to surge with a growing population.

Population and migration issues cannot be dealt with at the state or national level but must become central issues in international agreements if we are to tackle our greatest success – that we have bred like flies and consumed the Earth’s small resources with very significant exponential growth over the last two hundred years.

Now is the time to acknowledge our success as a species and move forward with the idea that every child born should have the right to live in a safe, healthy, fulfilling community.

Population is fundamentally a human rights and environmental rights issue but there seem to be few, if any, politicians willing to accept the leadership baton and step forward.

Malcolm McIntosh is a professor and director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at Griffith Business School. Tapan Sarker is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, Griffith Business School. Rose Boyd is a PhD Scholar at Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, Griffith Business School

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