SPA is thrilled to introduce Sue Arnold from Australians for Animals Inc. Sue has been a wildlife activist and journalist for the past 30 years who has a first hand insight into the the impact of population growth on wildlife.

Sue says "Australians for Animals Inc.(AFA) has played a significant role in protecting Australia’s unique wildlife and their habitats for the past 30 years. The charity was founded by Sue Arnold, a former Fairfax investigative journalist who works internationally in the US and Europe on a number of major campaigns including impacts of noise on terrestrial and marine environment.

As the immigration intake continues to rise exponentially, AFA has focused on the devastating and irreversible impacts to the environment which include highway upgrades, urbanisation, shopping malls, logging, land clearing and resorts. The ongoing repeal and weakening of environmental legislation is a major concern.

Australia is an ancient continent with a limited carrying capacity. Our environment should not pay the price for an unsustainable increase in population. Decisions on Australia’s population require wise and widely discussed policies.

There’s little doubt this massive increase in immigration is based on the usual consumer society argument that more people mean more taxes, more consumption and thus more profits. With such a biased balance sheet, the outcome is likely to be an environmental and an economic disaster.

It is unfortunate that major political parties and many environmental organisations fail to acknowledge and understand not only the ramifications of pushing our population to 40 million, but the true cost."

AFS runs the popular Koala Crisis Page on Facebook and @koalacrisis on twitter.