Population and Economics

A letter from the SPA Vic Branch to the Victorian Minister for Planning, Hon. Matthew Guy, MLC regarding visions for Melbourne's future.

Mark Crosby over at Core Economics has a post on population economics that created stress for me. Stress because it argues an intellectual position I (and many others) have being trying to combat for many years.

THE "populate or our future fortunes will perish" cry is the ultimate national pyramid scheme NEVER mind environmental sustainability, there's an even more fundamental disconnect in the debate, such as it is, over Australia's population. It is that between a "big Australia" and the source of our contemporary and future prosperity.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is breaking free from one of her predecessor's main policy stances by announcing she is not interested in a "big Australia".

A SHORTAGE of skilled workers could dampen Australia's renewed economic expansion, a new survey says. The Australian Industry (Ai) Group/Deloitte survey of more than 400 chief executives found 34.7 per cent of businesses believed there was at least a high risk that a skills shortages would have an adverse effect on operations this year.

Good explanations about some common fallacies about world's population statistics

THE home ownership dreams of young Moreland residents are "fading away", driven in part by the nation's "runaway" population growth, Wills federal Labor MP Kelvin Thomson has warned.

THE key to quality of life for Australian families and communities during the coming four decades is not a population of 36 million, as Kevin Rudd advocates, but carefully managed sustainable growth. A random declaration of bigness is no substitute for a planned vision of a sustainable Australia.

Rebecca Weisser at The Oz has outdone herself with a selection of excellent op-eds on population and productivity. Although, as I remarked several days ago, The Oz was well behind its online rival, Crikey, in invigorating the national population debate.

REGIONAL communities could be the winners if the Government's new focus on population pressures focuses on the right mix of tax reforms and incentives to encourage more businesses and people to live and work in country Australia.