Australia and Population Growth
Here in Australia the population debate has been raging for decades. The crux – despite our size, much of Australia is arid or semi-arid. We are the driest inhabited continent on Earth, with most of the arable land concentrated in a strip near the coast. Most of the population is there too (90% or more). We also have fragile and increasingly-degraded ecosystems, with water access and equity a major issue.
The debate currently hinges on whether Australia should significantly increase her population (from the current 21.4 million) to 36 million souls. On one side sits the economic rationalists who look at all those extra consumers with greedy eyes while chanting “growth and GDP”. On the other, environmental and other groups who can see that we are irreversibly reducing our carrying capacity with our current population, let alone a much larger one.
I found an interesting take on it today: a short pdf from The Australia Institute. In part it reads:
Australia is a nation of migrants; the first intake sought no permission to settle here. Migration is, and is likely to remain, an important part of what makes the Australian population the diverse and dynamic society that it has become. But the benefits of migration should not be conflated with the benefits of an ever-increasing population. As the data presented above show, there is no reason for Australians to be forced to choose between being open, inclusive and rapidly growing or being closed, exclusive and stable.
The onus of proof should be on those who wish to see our population burgeon to make the case for it. Similarly, if we are to increase our population by 60 per cent in the next four decades we should invest in the infrastructure we will need before we invite new citizens, not after they arrive.
In this era of evidence-based policy, it seems strange that for all the government inquiries that have been held there is yet to be a major scientific, social and economic analysis of the impact of rapid population growth in Australia. While it might be hard to agree on exactly how many people Australia can handle, it may be much easier to agree that much of our infrastructure, natural, physical and social, is already showing signs of stress.
Image credit: Christopher Chan.
