Population sustainability remains a controversial issue for many, even after many years of debate.
The federal government gave into the big business lobby at the recent Jobs and Skills Summit by promising an increase in the permanent migrant intake to 195,000 this year. Therefore, there are compelling reasons why we must continue to take a stand and demand a rethink to a ‘Big Australia’.
Most of our political leaders are advocates for a Big Australia. They say this will lead to ‘jobs and growth’. Conveniently, population growth is also great for the profits of their big business donors.
Before the pandemic, Australia was growing by the equivalent size of a new Canberra every year, with one of the highest rates of population growth in the developed world. The majority of this growth was through net overseas migration (NOM). In fact, Australia’s population would otherwise have stabilised without any changes to our fertility rate or our refugee intake.
Over the past few decades however, many prominent Australians have publicly spoken against the dominant narrative of ‘bigger is better’. Dick Smith and Tim Flannery are two prominent Australians who have kept the conversation alive in more recent years. Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) formed in 1988, and for 35 years has been one of the few environmental charities explicitly rallying against a Big Australia.
It could be argued that SPA is simply voicing the will of the people. Subsequent opinion polls have shown that a clear majority of us do not want high population growth.
But if the sentiment of the majority has yet to persuade you, here are five very good reasons why population sustainability should be front and centre of political debate.
1. The ageing population crisis is a myth
You may have heard economists, demographers and politicians panic over the so-called ‘burden’ of the ageing demographic ‘bulge’. Their rationale is that there will eventually be too many retirees who are dependent on a shrinking pool of working aged people – unless we have more children or boost our working age population through immigration.
This theory has been debunked many times, such as in a recent discussion paper commissioned by SPA, Silver tsunami or silver lining? Why we should not fear an ageing population.
The discussion paper states that: “High levels of immigration can slow, but not prevent, population ageing. But the cost of extra infrastructure and education to sustain population growth is greater than the avoided costs of pensions, healthcare and aged care.”
In reality, demographic ageing will stop well before retirees outnumber younger adults. In general, older Australians are living longer and healthier lives and are of benefit to society in many ways beyond retirement, such as volunteering in the community or caring for grandchildren. It is condescending for economists to label older Australians a burden when so often the opposite is true.
2. The infrastructure crisis is not a myth
Have you ever wondered why we are told that ‘growth’ is a prerequisite to economic prosperity despite the fact that during the past two decades when population growth has been highest, we’ve seen a general decline in the quality of public services?
If population growth is so good, why are our health and aged care sectors in crisis? Is it just a case of bad planning policies from our government or failure to direct this so-called prosperity into essential services? Or do you get a sense that infrastructure is playing an endless game of catch up with population growth and losing out?
In the SPA discussion paper Population growth and infrastructure in Australia: the catch-up illusion, lead author Leith van Onselen (economist and columnist at Macrobusiness) explores this in detail.
The paper discusses that: “If these trends continue towards a ‘Big Australia’, living standards for existing residents will continue to decline as people are forced into smaller, more expensive and lower-quality housing, endure worsening traffic congestion.”
3. Overdevelopment is erasing the heritage of our communities and neighbourhoods
Do you remember the house where you were born? The local street, neighbourhood and bushland where you grew up and played? Have you recently revisited your childhood stomping grounds and does any of it look the same? Or has it been developed and concreted over to the point where it is unrecognisable?
For many of us, the latter is sadly the reality. In a rapidly changing and overdeveloped world, there is now a term for this, Solastalgia, which is described as ‘the homesickness you have when you are still at home’.
One significant reason why our neighbourhoods have been defaced is that Australia’s economy has become increasingly reliant on the speculation of existing property as well as the construction of new property. Many of us have benefitted financially from property investment and for some of us, this provides the only real means of financial security into retirement.
However, this is a double-edged sword. We can only keep raising house prices, or keep building new developments if the pool of demand also keeps expanding. This can only end in a legacy of Australians paying more for smaller and lower-quality housing, with entire generations of Australians being priced out of the housing market altogether.
This is a complex issue that requires many solutions, but ongoing population growth (i.e. housing ‘demand’) is one critical aspect. Local resident groups may try to stop development projects in their neighbourhoods, but even if they are successful, development will only continue elsewhere if the demand for housing and infrastructure keeps growing. In other words, Australia needs a sustainable population policy in order to make any meaningful difference.
4. Overdevelopment is also erasing our natural heritage
For many of us, the natural landscape of Australia looks very different to that in which we grew up. This can be difficult to communicate to younger generations who haven’t seen the changes with the passage of time. This has been termed ‘shifting baseline syndrome’.
This may be one reason why many in the modern environmental movement focus on renewable energy and green technology while being resistant to talking about population.
The reality is that it doesn’t matter how many solar panels we put on our roofs, habitat destroyed for houses and roads is gone forever.
In the past two decades alone, Australia has grown by seven million people. The fact that we’re also one of the worst countries in the world for land clearing is not a coincidence.
According to a media release by SPA on the State of Environment 2021 Report: “Human activity and population growth are major drivers of many pressures on biodiversity… the impacts from population growth are extensive and increasing in many areas.”
5. Immigration is a poor solution to worker shortages
The federal government’s Jobs and Skills Summit resulted in a sense of déjà vu, in which the overwhelming sentiment in regard to the perceived skills shortage crisis was to (once again) ramp up economic migration.
According to a recent opinion article by Crispin Hull from the Canberra Times, economic migration was ramped up by the Howard government back in 1999, and 23 years later we continue to have skills shortages. It seems evident that if high population growth has not solved the ‘crisis’ in over two decades, then it never will.
First, staff shortages are a reality during new pandemics as people have to take time off work. Second, the business lobby is not really trying to solve a skills shortage but rather undermine pay and work conditions.
The solution is not to be found through immigration but rather by improving our listing education sector and by improving employment prospects for those already living in Australia. Further arguments can be found by reading SPA’s submission to the Jobs and Skills Summit here.
If you believe that population is a concern, below are a few things you can do.
- Write to your federal MPs and senators in response to the jobs summit. More information can be found on the SPA website here.
- Keep the debate alive by discussing with your friends, family and co-workers. If you are a shareholder in a corporation that advocates high population growth, write to them or take them to task at their AGM.
- Consider supporting Sustainable Population Australia, the only national environmental-based NGO that directly advocates a rethink to Big Australia. More information on the website.
- Consider preferencing your vote for smaller political parties with strong environmental policies who advocate for alternatives to an economy reliant on population growth. Every vote for the major parties is a vote for business as usual – literally.
Michael Bayliss is communications manager for Sustainable Population Australia.
He is also the host of the Post-Growth Australia Podcast.
Have your say in the comments section below.
