public advocacy

An ecological, rather than a business profit mindset requires thinking beyond commerce and money-making and focusing on the biological parameters that keep civilisations in existence.

Anyone who has read Malthus’ An Essay on the Principle of Population, Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb, Meadows’ et al. The Limits to Growth, Smith’s Population Crisis and most recently Lowe’s Bigger or Better? will appreciate that humanity is facing a series of converging catastrophes including fossil fuel shortages, water shortages, a food crisis, soil degradation and climate change.

The world’s population is projected by the United Nations to reach at least 9 billion by 2050. By that time the world will require twice as much the food and energy consumed today. At present resources are consumed at a rate of 1.5 times the Earth’s capacity to renew them. By about 2030 this ecological overshoot will exceed replenishment levels by 100 percent. The natural capacity of the Earth is thus being rapidly depleted.

With business-as-usual Australia’s population is likely to reach 36 million or more by 2050. This increase is occurring at a time when the converging catastrophes are beginning. The technological optimists say that Australia should first increase its population via immigration and then worry about the consequences later. This is merely a front for corporate greed: to make short-term profits while leaving the mess for future generations to clean up.

So what now? Australia continues on the path to Big Australia given existing immigration numbers and the population growth rate. Big Business continues to push for big numbers. The media generates anxiety about asylum seekers and the control of borders, when in reality the number of asylum seekers is small compared to legal migrants. Nevertheless, critics of immigration are conveniently dismissed as nativists, not concerned with the ‘global good’ when in fact the strongest advocates of mass immigration to Australia, the Big Business lobby group, are primarily concerned with their profit margins rather than morality. They get away without the strong condemnation they deserve.

An ecological, rather than a business profit mindset requires thinking beyond commerce and money-making and focusing on the biological parameters that keep civilisations in existence. Our business elites, with the notable exception of Dick Smith, seemingly have no concern beyond day-to-day profit making. This would not matter if they did not have such a death-lock on the throats of both our major political parties.

What to do? A reduction in Australia’s immigration rate to 70,000 per annum, in accordance with Kelvin Thomson’s ‘14 Point Plan’, will still enable Australia to increase the intake of refugees and meet our humanitarian obligations.

Following in the footsteps of the greats I referred to at the beginning of this message, my contribution to the cause has been my own book: Sleepwalking to Catastrophe which exposes the pro-immigrationist arguments as the sophistry which they are. This work also serves as my manifesto for an alternative economic system considering the long-term future of our environment. Ultimately, the pen is still mightier than the sword as writing remains the most powerful medium we have to educate others.

As a young person I call on all celebrities to join with me in voicing opposition to the perpetual growth model. It is important that we combine the power of writing with the public exposure of celebrities to communicate with the masses. In doing so, young people just might be able to have a future.