Some weeks ago SPA sent a questionnaire to six political parties asking for their policy positions re population issues. In summary, we sought to find out from each of them: Their views on the optimum population for Australia and the basis for their figure; Whether they recognise that there are environmental constraints to population growth …
Julia Gillard – Eidos is one of the nation’s leading public policy think tanks and I’m delighted to be here at the start of our nation’s 43rd Federal election campaign, a campaign in which the Australian people have the opportunity to exercise their most precious right in our democracy, the right to vote. ….. Article …
Speech: ‘Forward to a Sustainable Australia’, Eidos Institute, Brisbane 18th July 2010 Read More »
FOR most of the business community, this election campaign already feels too long. They know there will be little hope of rational discussion until Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott actually wins the election and gets back to making policy rather than making announcements, according to focus group polling. Article Link:
WHEN Kevin Rudd last October embraced a big Australia, Labor’s focus groups went ballistic as voters registered their fears. Nine months later, both political parties have so absorbed that message they are falling over themselves in the rush to close the door on immigration. Not that either side is offering a precise target or an …
We Need a Real Debate on How Big We Want to Be 20th July 2010 Read More »
Tony Abbott will unveil a new policy on population and migration in the next few days, as both sides of politics compete to promote their opposition to a “big Australia.” Article Link: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/abbott-hints-at-tougher-population-policy-20100723-10o2b.html
t is just 61 years since the first Australian citizenship ceremony, in 1949, when seven men, from Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, Norway, Spain and Yugoslavia, travelled to Canberra as representatives of the states and territories where they lived, and became symbols of the New Australia. The 2493 people from 35 countries who became citizens that …
Hysteria on Growth Threatens Successful Population Strategy – 24 July 2010 Read More »
Tony Abbott will grab the agenda before tomorrow night’s leaders’ debate with a new population policy, likely to include dramatic cuts to the migration intake. Article Link: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/abbott-set-to-reveal-cuts-to-migration-20100723-10oz3.html
LUNCHTIME midweek in Campbelltown’s main street in the heart of western Sydney is a slow-moving affair. Cars drive in and out of the one-way street at a leisurely pace. Business is not exactly booming in most of the small, tired-looking shops. There’s plenty of room on the footpath for pedestrians. But underneath the languor, there’s …
Immigration is Just Another Dirty Word – 23 July 2010 Read More »
POPULATION growth is necessary and need not conflict with economic, social and environmental sustainability. The statement comes from one of Labor’s three hand-picked population panellists. Article Link:
Like other Australian capitals, Adelaide has grown so that it’s now straining at its boundaries, its public infrastructure completely inadequate for its exploding population, its water supply drying and its affordable housing an oxymoron. Article Link:
