[Image courtesy of the Australian Government, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet]
A year ago, back in April 2008 at Rudd's 2020 Summit, bundled amongst the popular topics of sustainability, climate change and water and youth summit, the issue of 'population' could only be described as a minor topic offered token reference.
The only question at the national summit posed on this core social policy issue was: "How do we plan future population growth at a national and regional level, given the constraints of water shortages and sustainability?"
The wording seemed hastily prepared and limited to water and that now cliched word 'sustainability', but anyway...
A submission to this question was made by The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), which lists one of its key objects as the study of the effects of technology on the quality of life of the community and on the physical and sociological environment, and technology for ecologically sustainable development.
ATSE submission to Summit (extract): "ATSE considers that Australia’s future population growth requires better long-term planning to ensure the necessary investment in infrastructure. This view is supported by a 2004 ATSE study of the engineering, scientific and environmental issues associated with population growth in Australia, undertaken at the request of the Scanlon Foundation. The report of this study - The Technological Implications of an Australian Population of 30 million by 2050 (http://www.atse.org.au/uploads/Scanbro.pdf) – found that there are no inherent physical, resource or technological barriers to Australia’s population growth, provided there is appropriate long-term planning and government leadership in setting policy directions."
So the message was that open ended population growth is ok including immigration, provided the government has policy direction and plans for the long term. This is somewhat vague and dangerous, given that all demand pressures on all public infrastructure and services and demands on space, economic, social and environmental resources, finances and slice of the Australian way of life - all of which fundamentally hinge on population size.
I am yet to read the 78 page Scanlon/ATSE report '30/50 - The Technological Implications of an Australian Population of 30 million by 2050', but the first question that must be asked of the Rudd Government is, a year on from the Summit, what is the Government's long-term planning and policy direction for Australia's population?
Optimistically, like with all freshly elected governments, in the lead up to the Summit, The Australian newspaper ran an article 4 Feb-08 entitled '2020 summit not just another talkfest' in which it offered the following optimism:
"From water policy and open government to science and the future of rural communities, the scope of the 2020 Summit is vast. While such gatherings can run the risk of spreading discussion too thinly, if the summit is allowed to operate free of too much political manipulation it should produce more worthwhile outcomes than just another talkfest. The interesting question will be whether such a consensus-building exercise can give a booster shot to the political system's capacity to fix seemingly intractable problems such as homelessness and indigenous disadvantage, the broadband impasse and inflationary pressures. As participants define the problems and come up with answers, the onus will be on the political system to implement the solutions."
Well?
Meanwhile, the official Australian Bureau of Statistics confirms the following accelerating inflow of migrants through mainly Sydney Airport with an net migration thsi year of 190,300,and till without any plan of what to do with them and any thought of the impact on Australia?
2008-09 Australia's Migration Program Record
•73 900 in 1996-97
•67 100 in 1997-98
•67 900 in 1998-99
•70 200 in 1999-00
•80 610 in 2000-01
•93 080 in 2001-02
•108 070 in 2002-03
•114 360 in 2003-04
•120 060 in 2004-05
•142 933 in 2005-06
•148 200 in 2006-07
•158 630 in 2007-08
•190 300 in 2008-09
[Source: Migration Australia (ABS Cat 3412.0)]
And still Rudd has no population policy, or if he has it is secret and increasing annually. The Ruddgates are open and Australia's infrastructure isn't coping. At this uncontrolled rate we're heading toward a second world class-based society like has happened across the Tasman to New Zealand.
Add comment