Dick Smith’s and Sustainable Australia’s (as well as MB’s) call for Australia’s immigration intake to be normalised to the historical average of 70,000 people per year (from roughly 200,000 currently) has received broader media coverage over the past week.
Over the weekend, the Herald-Sun, the Daily Telegraph and News.com.au reported the following:
AUSTRALIA’S population explosion has prompted calls for migrant numbers to be slashed by two-thirds.
Overseas immigration is driving a surge that will see the number of people in the country reach 24.9 million by the middle of next year.
The Courier-Mail reported that is more than 2.5 times faster than official Australian Bureau of Statistics forecasts, which 20 years ago predicted that level would not be hit until 2051…
Sustainable Australia, a political party backed by entrepreneur-philanthropist Dick Smith, says it is time to cap the influx to relieve pressure on transport infrastructure, schools and hospitals and protect jobs and lifestyle.
“We do not think this rapid population growth is a positive thing for Australia,” president William Bourke said.
The party – which plans to run Senate and House of Representatives candidates at the next federal election – wants net overseas migration numbers capped at 70,000 per year (including the current 14,000 to 20,000 refugees quota).
That is less than a third of the 231,900 arrivals last year.
“The long-term average was about 70,000 a year in the 20th century. That worked fantastically well for Australia,” Mr Bourke said…
“We were able to cope infrastructure-wise and maintain secure jobs with decent wages growth, as well as protecting the environment and keeping housing affordable.’’
Mr Bourke said there was “overwhelming public support’’ for cutting immigration and slowing population rises once “you get away from the race-based irrelevance’’ and looked at the issues…
And on Monday, Dick Smith penned an article in The Australian reiterating the same theme:
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I believe we are on our way to destroying Australia as we know it today. Renowned building developer Harry Triguboff wants an Australia of 150 million people. My friend the billionaire retailer Gerry Harvey says Australia’s population is more likely to grow to 100 million by the end of the century and we have no control over it. How can that be? Surely as a democracy we have control over the size of our country.
After two years of extensive research, I produced a 20-page Fair Go manifesto. It explains what experts say we need to do to fix this crucial problem. Most importantly, it’s clear that most of our population growth is coming from record immigration levels and our government has complete control of that.
My document also links population growth with the rapid increase in the disparity of wealth in our country…
I am a strong supporter of immigration but believe it should be set at sensible and sustainable levels of about 70,000 immigrants a year, rather than today’s 200,000…
Few would disagree that as a nation we’ve yet to have a proper discussion about population. Right now we are engaged in endless dialogue about gay marriage, which is an important human rights issue but surely just as important is accepting that we have to live in balance and need a population policy to achieve this.
Sadly, some politicians have told me they can’t talk about the population issue because they will be labelled by some in the media (and the ABC, in particular) as “anti-immigration”. They reckon that would be a death knell for re-election, considering that so many Australians are immigrants and of immigrant parents…
The results of the New Zealand election should make it clear to our major parties that population and, consequently, immigration numbers are of concern to voters.
It’s great to see Sustainable Australia and Dick Smith receiving coverage of this very important issue, albeit from the conservative media only.
As mentioned above, reducing Australia’s migrant intake to 70,000 (on a non-discriminatory basis and without cutting the humanitarian intake) would merely restore it to the historical average level – i.e. the average since Australia was federated in 1901:
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An immigration intake of 70,000 people a year would see Australia’s population hit around 32 million by 2060, and Melbourne and Sydney hit between 6 to 6.5 million people, which is far more manageable and sustainable than the 40 million-plus people projected for Australia under the current 200,000 strong mass immigration program, which would see Melbourne’s and Sydney’s populations hitting a projected 8 million people by 2060:
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Rather than being ‘anti-immigration’ as is often reported in the press, Sustainable Australia and Dick Smith (as well as MB) are all for ‘sustainable immigration’ that maintains the living standards of the incumbent population, safeguards the environment, and meets Australia’s humanitarian obligations.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
