Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will release the latest State of the Environment report at the National Press Club on 19 July, with the report being a five-yearly accounting to Parliament of the health of the environment. Plibersek will describe the report as “shocking” and one that outlines a decade of “government inaction and wilful ignorance”:
Across more than 2000 pages, the report sets out a litany of failures…
Most of Australia’s eight largest cities are growing faster than their international equivalents, driving urban heat, congestion, pollution and waste, and increasing demand for water and energy…
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The findings put significant pressure on both the federal Labor government and state and territory governments to find solutions…
A “shocking document,” the report “tells a story of crisis and decline in Australia’s environment and of a decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance,” Ms Plibersek will say…
“I won’t be putting my head in the sand – under Labor, the environment is back on the priority list,” she will say. “Now is the time to read this report and take action.”
You know what won’t help Australia’s environment: lifting Australia’s immigration intake aggressively, as signaled by the Albanese Government.
The Intergenerational Report (IGR) projected that Australia would add 13.1 million people (a 50% increase) over the next 40 years on the back of extreme immigration levels of 235,000 people a year:
Lifting Australia’s immigration intake even further – as demanded by Big Business, Big Property and the edu-migration industry – would necessarily grow Australia’s population even more, thereby increasing environmental harm.
The previous State of the Environment report explicitly noted the destruction of Australia’s natural habitat caused by rapid population growth:
Australia’s population growth and economic activity continue to pose major environmental challenges…
The federal government’s State of the Environment 2016 report (prepared by a group of independent experts, which I chaired), released today, predicts that population growth and economic development will be the main drivers of environmental problems such as land-use change, habitat destruction, invasive species, and climate change…
We continue to lose agricultural lands through urban encroachment…
Coastal waterways are threatened by pollutants, including microplastics and nanoparticles…
Population growth in our major cities, along with Australia’s reliance on private cars, is leading to greater traffic volumes, which increase traffic congestion and delays as well as pollution…
Population multiplied by units of consumption equals total environment impact. It’s not rocket science.
Yet environmental groups and our politicians of all persuasions have avoided the issue of Australia’s overpopulation, and in so doing have utterly failed the environment.
They need to quit the hypocrisy and confront Australia’s population (immigration) addiction head on, since it is a direct driver of Australia’s environmental malaise.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also Chief Economist and co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
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