Are asylum seekers arriving by boat driving population increases?

No. Asylum seekers arriving by boat (approximately 5,000-10,000 per annum over recent years) make up less than 3 per cent of Australia's total population growth. The great majority is made up from net overseas migration (around 200,000 per annum) and our natural increase of births over deaths (around 150,000 per annum).

Why should Australia stabilise its population now?

In 1994 the Australian Academy of Science published its findings on population. In considering the resource needs of our cities, and Australia's supply of water, minerals and arable land it concluded: “In our view, the quality of all aspects of our children's lives will be maximised if the population of Australia by the mid-21st Century is kept to the low, stable end of the achievable range, i.e. to approximately 23 million."

Passing on a sustainable Australia to our children and grandchildren - with a good quality of life - is our primary moral responsibility.

A stable population will provide a better quality of life.

Do we need population growth to ensure our economic wellbeing?

No. Productivity and workforce participation are the important factors. A stable population incentivises investment in these two key drivers of national wealth creation, and encourages a more innovative economy. A stable population also transfers investment away from relatively unproductive land/housing speculation, and into more productive national industries that create exports and replace imports (e.g. agriculture, manufacturing).

Growing a bigger population funded by the rapid depletion of our finite resources is a recipe for economic disaster. A larger population also reduces the per capita value of our mineral and energy wealth, greatly diminishing energy security.

Eight of the top ten per capita wealth countries have stable populations of under 10 million (e.g. Norway, Denmark, UAE, Luxembourg). Countries with large populations like Bangladesh, Egypt, India and China have far lower per capita wealth.

Article: 'If Norway can prosper with a stable population, why can't Australia?' - CLICK HERE.

In a finite world, a stable population will create a more resilient economy, to sustain and enhance prosperity.

Is ageing a crisis or a triumph?

Living longer healthier lives is a triumph of modern Australia. The costs of population growth far outweigh any costs of ageing - CLICK HERE.

Can Australia stave off ageing by importing younger immigrants?

No. The Productivity Commission stated clearly that it cannot make any significant or lasting impact on population ageing: “substantial increases in the level of migration would have only modest effects on population ageing and the impacts would be temporary, since immigrants themselves age”.

A 1999 Australian parliamentary research paper, entitled "Population Futures for Australia: the Policy Alternatives", looked at the claim that immigration could offset an ageing population. It found that in order to maintain the proportion of the population aged 65 and over at present levels, "enormous numbers of immigrants would be required, starting in 1998 at 200 000 per annum, rising to 4 million per annum by 2048 and to 30 million per annum by 2098. By the end of next century with these levels of immigration, our population would have reached almost one billion."

The paper concluded: "It is demographic nonsense to believe that immigration can help to keep our population young. No reasonable population policy can keep our population young."

Importing younger migrants to stave off ageing is an irresponsible pyramid scheme that only leads to a bigger number of 'aged' people down the track. Due to large-scale post-war immigration, in 2006 almost one in five (19%) of the overseas-born population were aged 65 and over compared with only 11% of the Australian-born population - CLICK HERE.

Population growth is unsustainable. In the long run, the only way to successfully manage ageing is through responsible policies including: (1) Greater productivity; (2) Greater workforce participation; (3) Adjusting eligibility for entitlements such as the aged pension, aged care and subsidised health care; and (4) Increased savings (e.g. superannuation).

Does Australia have a labour shortage?

No. According to Roy Morgan Research, there are over 2 million Australians either unemployed or underemployed (over 1 million, or 10%, in each category). The ABS unemployment figures grossly understate unemployment, as they do not acknowledge many workers, for example, that have given up looking for work or don't qualify for unemployment benefits.

A stable population will promote education and training, to increase job opportunities for all Australians.

Does Australia's migration program help alleviate skills shortages?

No, Australia’s migration program actually creates and exacerbates skills shortages. The key to Australia's skills predicament is that dependants and family-reunion entrants dominate the permanent migration program and create a big annual net skills deficit because of the services they require - CLICK HERE.

A stable population will promote education and training, to increase job opportunities for all Australians.

Can the population issue be solved simply by planning more infrastructure?

No. Population growth leads to increasingly complex and unaffordable infrastructure requirements such as desalination plants and road and rail tunnels, which have far greater per capita costs than traditional infrastructure like dams and normal roads - CLICK HERE.

A stable population will relieve overstretched infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, roads and public transport.

Why has there been ongoing indifference and lack of courage from many Greens party leaders on population?

The Greens have been negligently quiet on population.

The Greens claim to represent the environment, but now put their social policy agenda ahead of Australia's national interest and environment. The Greens are calling for massive increases to our already record high family reunion and refugee programs, in exchange for a lower skilled migrant intake. But there is no environmental benefit in swapping skilled migrants for family reunion entrants, and it is more economically costly for Australia.

Article: 'Greens no longer about conservation' - CLICK HERE

A stable population will protect our environment, including food, water & energy resources, native bushland & animal habitats.

Does Australia need to import a large number of workers for the mining boom?

No. Mining is highly mechanised and makes up a tiny fraction of Australia's workforce (around 200,000 or less than 2 per cent). Youth unemployment (15-24 years) alone in Australia is much more than this, with over 280,000 out of work. The mining industry is highly mechanised and most industry vacancies could be filled by Australians, if mining companies were required to invest in sufficient training.

A stable population will promote education and training, to increase job opportunities for all Australians.

Who is pushing a bigger Australia?

The lazy way for big business to make more profit is to increase its customer base. For example, The Australia Institute notes that bank profits are now running at $1,000 for every man, woman and child in Australia. Big business has enormous influence on our major political parties through campaign donations. We need to end political donations from vested interests like business (and unions) so the national interest is prioritised.

As a result of business pressure for a growing population, successive Federal Governments have paid wasteful baby bonuses and run record high migration. The baby bonus costs the taxpayer around $1.5 billion per year. This is despite the fact that births have been double deaths for over two decades and our natural increase currently stands at a record 150,000 per annum.

To further increase population and profits, big bank 'chief economists' and other business lobbyists under various names ('Industry Groups', 'Business Councils', 'Urban Taskforces', 'Committees for', 'Independent Centres', etc) form part of a well-funded media propaganda campaign promoting ever-higher migration to alleviate “skills shortages”.

Are Australians too 'lazy' to do certain jobs?

Some employer groups promote the myth that Australians are 'lazy' simply in order to import more subserviant (and sometimes cheaper) labour. The truth is that Australians are amongst the hardest working people in the world. Modern Australia has been built on hard work and a strong work ethic.

In the short term, some migrants from poorer countries are (more) desperate to do low-paid, menial work in Australia. Employers know this. But there is a high churn in this area and the main objective is often to gain permanent residency in Australia (and sponsor family members to migrate) because healthcare and social service benefits are often far greater.

Bringing in migrants to do menial jobs and compete with low-skilled Australian workers is already a failed strategy. Unless you force such migrants (and their children) to work in such low-skilled jobs for the rest of their lives, you simply create a bigger need for more people to fill these jobs, due to a growing population.

Finding Australian workers to fill low-skilled jobs is a relatively minor issue that should be managed through responsible government policies, and does not justify the unsustainable band-aid solution of importing ever more overseas labour.

Australia's youth unemployment rate is around 20%.

A stable population will promote education and training, to increase job opportunities for all Australians.

What are the major economic, environmental and social problems caused by population growth?

Population growth causes and/or exacerbates most of Australia's major economic, environmental and social problems. Some are listed below:

Economic

Increased business costs like rent, energy and water; Upward pressure on inflation and interest rates; Infrastructure overload and inefficiencies; Reduced per capita value of our mineral wealth and exports; Surging imports to service a larger population with consumer goods; Reduced per capita GDP growth; Loss of vital agricultural farmland and diminished food security; Skyrocketing foreign debt due to trade deficits and banks' overseas borrowing for mortgages; Worsening skills shortages due to stresses on essential services; Diversion of investment into housing and away from vital R&D, manufacturing and export creating industries; Diversion of bank lending away from small business and into more profitable mortgage lending; to name a few.

Environmental

Water crisis; Increasing carbon emissions; Increasing air and water pollution; Accelerated resource depletion (oil, minerals, etc); Growing power needs; Loss of recreational parkland, bushland, biodiversity and native wildlife; Collapsing land and marine ecosystems; Species extinction; Soil degradation; Failing river systems; Crowding and trashing of our coastal towns; to name a few.

Social

Housing affordability crisis for young Australians and ordinary workers; Increasing living costs like mortgages, rent, energy, water and car running costs in traffic gridlock; Loss of personal security; Less open space for children to play; Overloaded health system with long hospital queues; Growing health and obesity implications in polluted and congested cities; Crowded public transport and beaches; Suburb planning conflict; to name a few.

All these problems and a lower quality of life, for what?

Summary: Living longer healthier lives is the sign of a successful society, not a 'crisis'. The only way to preserve Australia's quality of life and minimise skills shortages is to invest sufficiently in education and training, particularly for the two million Australians of working age that are unemployed, underemployed or not engaged in the workforce.

Population growth is the solution for lazy governments that don’t have meaningful policies to deal with Australia's healthy ageing triumph or skills requirements.

Australians should reject political parties funded by big business 'donations'. They should also reject orchestrated media propaganda campaigns that promote myths around labour shortages and ageing. A focus on quality of life for all Australian citizens should dictate Australia's population policy, not big business ambitions to increase their customer base and profits.