Back in October 2009, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd publicly came out in favour of a ‘Big Australia’ following the release of what was then the latest Intergenerational Report.
The plan was to rapidly expand Australia’s population growth to a level where it would hit 35 million by 2050.
At the time, this prompted criticism from then Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, as well as from the head of Treasury, Ken Henry, who expressed concern that Australia would not be able to cope with the population expanding by 60% over the next four decades.