| Why is nobody talking about population and migration? I heard on the radio the other day talking about the Australian population of 40 Million in 2025. Where are all these people going to be living, drinking, eating? The WA mining industry estimates it will need an extra 80,000 workers by 2015? What's the rush? The stuff has waited 20 Million years it can surely wait a little longer and we can seriously look at how we want this country to develop. I think it's all a con job by the real estate and housing industry and the retail sector which relies on continuing to sell more and more to more and more for the cheapest price and that's why nothing is made in Australia any more. Do you remember how that load of bullshit was sold to us,"we would buy cheap cloths, tv's etc from overseas and they would buy expensive complex things from us". Surprise Surprise they didn't want any of our complex shit! They only want our minerals, and to educate and keep their kids. Australia the child care capital of the world. |
1. Space in cities, there's only so much of it. This leads to infrastructure issues - transportation, residential building planning, service delivery.
2. Natural resources. We don't have a great deal of water and desalination plants, while effective, chew unholy amounts of energy, which forces up electricity prices that were already rising. Then there's food and the ever-increasing trade deficit from all the stuff we need to import that people want to buy.
3. Healthcare, education, etc. These things get more complicated and more expensive as the population grows, which puts pressure on the government's budget and its ability to deliver services, particularly in a resource-driven economy.
4. Immigration. It's a fact that there's cultural tension associated with mass immigration. Australia isn't as racist as some would have you believe, but if we let too many people in there will be irrational anger in some sections of the population.
5. Social effects. These are largely unknown, but pretty much everything that happens has an unintended and unexpected social effect. Significantly increased population is one of the strongest.
It's a massively complicated issue that can't be distilled to a few pop-political talking points. Don't think you have it all figured out because I'd bet big that no one does.
And point 4 and 5 dont even justify a response, because theyre irrelevant. Every first world nation seems to deal with it just fine, without the "We're full" ignorant backlash that makes Australia look like a bunch of morons.