The United Nation's Population Fund is concerned population growth in Asia averages 1.1 per cent a year. Australia, as a First World country, should have a much lower growth rate. It does not. By the end of the Howard era, our annual population growth had risen to a stunning 1.5 per cent: almost off the First World scale and high even for Third World countries. (Indonesia's, by contrast, was then 1.3 per cent, but has recently come down, with much effort, to 1.2 per cent.)
Under the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, our rate has increased. According to Bureau of Statistics figures, it is now 1.7 per cent. Both natural increase and net migration continue to rise. At this rate, one which many are determined to maintain or increase, our population will reach 42 million by 2051. By the end of the century, it will pass 100 million.
The world population is 6.6 billion. This far exceeds early 20th-century predictions that it would reach about 3.9 billion by 2009. And yet overpopulation barely registers now as a public issue. Not even as part of climate change discussion, which is, after all, about planetary sustainability.
Perhaps the much anticipated Henry Review of taxation will solve it all.
Um, my comment was facetious, Trevor.Solve it ? My guess is exacerbate it
I think some simple, morally right measures can easily been implemented in today's society to curb population growth. The main ones I believe in are the death penalty and voluntary euthanasia. Even without the abundance of human beings we have I think we should still have these.
Voluntary euthanasia is one issue I strongly believe in. If a 95 year old man is stuck in bed in constant pain, has no family and friends, and just wants to move on, just bloody let him. It's better for him, the economy, the health system and the other sick person waiting for a bed. Who loses? Absolutely no-one. The main objections seem to come from Christians forcing their beliefs on others. Apparently it's God's decision as to when we die. But anyways let's not get onto religion.
Jon Muir believes the question of survival now faces the planet. "We've got 6.5 billion people and a third of them are leading a First World lifestyle. We've got all these signs it's not working - soil erosion, overfishing, salination, the collapse of ecosystems, species extinction, extreme weather events. The life force of the planet is in crisis and the First World can't see it."
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