Australian population futures

Abstract

Australia stands at a turning point in its demographic development. It is crucial at this time that a vision of our future population is developed that takes full account of the best scientific knowledge and policy thinking and includes the wishes and opinions of all Australians. Public debate about population and immigration in Australia has too often been dominated by interest groups and has focused on extreme positions. On the one hand are those who believe Australia should increase its population as rapidly as possible and strive to double the current population. On the other hand are some extreme environmentalists who argue for an immediate cessation of population growth. It is my argument in this chapter that both of these extreme positions would have negative consequences for Australia and most Australians. Both positions oversimplify the population issue and see population policy as a silver bullet to deliver either economic prosperity, in the case of the ‘growth at all costs’ lobby or environmental sustainability by the ‘zero growth’ lobby. However, the relationships between population and economic growth, environmental sustainability, equity and liveability are much more complex than these simplistic positions suggest. Population policies must take full account of these complexities.