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Peter Martin makes some telling points about the shortcomings of the latest Intergenerational Report in his critique ("Sir Humphrey could not have said it better", CT Opinion. 3 April). He is right on the money when he cans the report for attempting to forecast the unforecastable in one area (medical spending) but not in another

It is much easier to purify sewage than to attempt to desalinate seawater. There is no stream of highly salty water to corrode the plant and be got rid of. In either case there are the pumping costs for coastal cities to return the clean water to the dams. Far better to reduce demand. Whats

Parking at Canberra’s hospitals (private as well as public) is a headache, no two ways about it.   And, if the ACT Government had deliberately set out to pick the least suitable solution well, top marks, chaps.   A decent parking system, or keeping the odd school open; which would you choose?   But it

I have been listening to Peter Costello delivering his budget speech. I have also listened to commentators praising and criticising his presentation. Maybe I am only a lone voice but the Treasurer talks about growth, he talks about subsidies for water tanks and solar energy – very commendable. When can we please have a reasonable

I refer to the article "Don’t you worry about that" (C-M June 29) in which Premier Peter Beattie comments on the impact of Queensland’s population growth on infrastructure. I certainly worry about the premier’s judgment about population growth. Just as he believed Queensland’s health and water supply had no problems, so he blandly states his

It is a considerable pity that none of our political leaders are likely to read, let alone ponder, your thoughtful editorial of 29 June, "Getting a fix on the population debate". For both major parties, it would seem, population policy is simply a matter of the more, the better. Peter Costello has led the way

Thank you, Ian Fraser, for your considered letter about Eastern Grey kangaroos and the regional grasslands and woodlands which are their traditional, and our new, habitat (CT 8 July). As you write, the notion of clear-felling the Cairns rainforests is ‘inconceivable’ (though the Atherton rainforests were not spared), but allowing run-away populations of kangaroos to

It was with dismay that I picked up my “Independent” last week to see on the front page that South Australia must “populate or perish”. Proponents of population increase generally have a vested interest and of course those associated with the building industry would clearly come into that category. The world is overpopulated. Australia is

Successive Australian population inquiries – some independent, some commissioned by government – have all recommended the adoption of an Australian population policy. Successive Australian governments have all rejected those recommendations. The Keating Government took the unusual step of refusing to respond to the tabled report of the 1994 Jones Inquiry into Australia’s population “carrying capacity”.

  Dr Ted Trainer is an academic in the Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Sociology,University of New South Wales and the author of numerous books on the environment and population issues. January 2000 © On Line Opinion   The following paragraphs briefly summarise the fundamentally important limits to growth analysis of the global situation. In my