As the Government prepares to beef up its population policy credentials, some mayors are protesting that growth is too far ahead of the transport system’s ability to cope.
Allan Sutherland, the Mayor of the Moreton Bay region, which is expected to absorb an extra 84,000 new homes over the next 20 years, said infrastructure was needed to accommodate growth. “You can’t just keep jamming terracotta roofs all over the place and not improve your transport system,” he said.
The poll found that 59 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of the Government working to limit the region’s population growth.
Thirty-five per cent were opposed.
The result was even more emphatic among Labor supporters, with 65 per cent in favour of population limits.
The poll also found that 59 per cent of Queenslanders thought the forecast population of 6 million for southeast Queensland by the middle of the century was too much, with 33 per cent saying it was about right.
Concern over the region’s growth has rekindled debate on a population cap for southeast Queensland, despite Premier Anna Bligh and property industry groups dismissing the idea.
Population growth will be a key issue at today’s Council of Australian Government meeting and Ms Bligh yesterday announced the involvement of scientist Tim Flannery, demographer Bernard Salt and environmentalist Ian Lowe at next year’s South-East Queensland Growth Summit on March 30 and 31.
Ms Bligh said southeast Queensland had more interstate migrants than any other state.
But she said she was yet to see “any sensible or legal way” to cap the population.
“As attractive as a population cap sounds, I think it’s misleading to imply to people that such a thing could be done,” she said.
The Wells family, who exchanged Yorkshire in the UK for Springfield Lakes, west of Brisbane, are part of the influx that has made southeast Queensland the fastest growing region in the country.
“We came here on holiday in 2002 and said we’ll be back – we just loved it,” Claire Wells said yesterday.
Mrs Wells said she and husband Shane had poured over pages on the internet devoted to Springfield Lakes and had liked what they’d seen.
“We were even more impressed when we saw it in reality,” she said.
The prospect of further growth didn’t bother Ms Wells so long as the needs of residents were met.
“There’s room for everybody and with growth comes new opportunities,” she said.
However, southeast Queensland head of the Sustainable Population Australia lobby group Simon Baltais said there must be a limit.
“Pro-growth lobbyists are ignoring the science . . . at the expense of the general community and the environment,” he said.