Media Releases
Western Australia’s nation-leading population growth threatens water security
Rainwater runoff into Perth’s dams has become almost immaterial, forcing increased reliance on energy intensive desalinated water and ongoing over-pumping of ever deeper aquifers In 2024-25 Perth’s Integrated Water Supply Scheme (IWSS) supplied a total of 337 billion litres of water to customers. After subtracting summer evaporation losses, a desperately dry 2026 autumn and winter […]
New report – Global unmet need for contraception is still increasing ahead of World Contraception Day.
On the UN-supported World Contraception Day, coming up on September 26, a new report from Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) details how global family planning programs have been deprioritised and had funding slashed, even as global population continues to increase. The new report, Reproductive rights: an unfinished project and an ecological imperative, argues that without a […]
Terrifying projections of environmentally destructive population expansion of 39 million people for Australia
Each population projection since Australia’s first Intergenerational Report in 2002 has significantly under called the outcome. Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) has no confidence that the latest effort will alter that track record. The report projects expansion of 11 million by 2065, lifting population to 39 million people. SPA says such an outcome would be disastrous […]
New population data proves Australia is growing for broke.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that Australia’s population expanded by 392,700 in the year to 30 March 2026, 292,100 of which from net oversees migration, lifting population towards 28 million, which was passed in early June 2026. Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) observes that Australia’s infrastructure and natural environment remain under severe, worsening pressure […]
Earth Overshoot Day 2026: our ecological credit card is maxed out
The 30th of July 2026 is Earth Overshoot Day: the exact date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services exceeds what the Earth can regenerate in this entire calendar year. For Australia, the overshoot date was even earlier, on 29 March, indicating how much our affluent lifestyle (including fossil fuel use) is draining global […]
20,000 Australians say NO to a Big Australia ahead of Federal election
Dick Smith (AC), Prof. Ian Lowe and Prof Anne Poelina have joined more than twenty thousand Australians in signing Sustainable Population Australia’s (SPA) position statement . The SPA position calls for a stabilised Australian population, maintained safely within ecological limits. The position statement states: “we take the position that there is a fundamental conflict between […]
New ABS data shows Albanese government continues to fail promises to rein in population growth
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that Australia’s population expanded by 412,500 in the 12 months to December 2025. 73% was due to Net Overseas Migration (NOM). https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/dec-2025 Over the 245 days to 2 June ’26, Australia’s resident population expanded by 275,256 or 1,124 per day to hit 28 million, an annualised growth […]
Australia needs a compassionate and practical plan for 77,700 visa overstayers
Sustainable Population Australia is calling on the Federal Government to substantially expand and promote assisted voluntary return for people living in Australia after their visas have expired. The Department of Home Affairs estimated that 77,700 unlawful non-citizens were living in Australia as of 30 June 2025, excluding people already in held or community detention. Yet […]
Australia’s population passes 28 million – a milestone that accelerates climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss.
Australia’s population surpassing 28 million is not a cause for celebration but a development with profound and harmful consequences for the climate, environment, biodiversity, and the quality of life of existing residents. Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) expresses deep concern as Australia’s population passes 28 million in early June 2026. Rapid expansion by 9 million since […]
Tony Burke’s push to convert up to 3 million temporary visa holders to permanent resident status undermines ecological limits, liveability, and quality of life for all Australians.
Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) expresses grave concern over comments by Immigration Minister Tony Burke in an Indian Link Media podcast, advocated for a pathway to full permanent residency and citizenship pathway for people who “are still here” and “working here”. SPA maintains: Immigration creates more demand for goods and services than the labour it brings […]