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Population Growth Can Benefit Australia
Today Queensland Premier Anna Bligh stepped into the population row by insisting that the government should have a 20 year population and infrastructure plan in order to sustain Rudd’s “big Australia” vision. Queensland is currently Australia’s third most populated state and whilst Western Australia may be the fastest growing population wise, it is Queensland who is taking in the bulk of overseas migrants. In 2008 just under 107,000 new residents moved to Queensland according to the ABS. In the 2006 census 17.9% of Queenslanders were born overseas and this figure is sure to have risen in the past four years. Ms Bligh in writing for The Australian newspaper said: “the state is growing by 2200 new residents every week, the equivalent of a city the size of Darwin every year, with 70% settling in southeast Queensland.” The eligible skills list for migrant sponsorship within Queensland show that the state is still seeking those who work within the healthcare industry as well as IT professionals and engineers. Ms Bligh will be attending a two day summit on the thorny issue of population growth but already the summit is off to a bad start with environmentalists saying that it is doomed to fail and Queensland Conservation Council secretary Simon Baltais also doubting the motives behind the summit as he says it merely strives to manage rather than control population growth. So are the critics of population growth right that Australia faces a huge problem or are they merely reacting with some hysteria and pointing the finger of blame at Australian immigration policy? The current population of Australia is 21 million and if government predictions are right about the rate of population growth, Australia will have a population of 35 million by 2050. By comparison the UK, which is 14 times smaller than Australia, already has a population of 61 million. Australia does not have the highest immigration levels globally, that title goes to the United Arab Emirates. Australia is 14th whilst Canada is 16th. A look at how Canada maintains its infrastructure may benefit the Australian summit as the Canadian government uses the population levels to benefit Canada’s economy. Canada has the 10th largest economy in the world and its economy is booming with new jobs being created every day. Critics of population growth argue that a growing population also means an ageing population. Whilst Australian residents are young they are contributing to taxes and helping Australia to prosper. However critics also need to note that these ‘boomers’ are also contributing to their own pension funds and this young generation are savers, which in turn generates tax for the economy and ensures that the ageing population isn’t such a drain on resources. In fact if we look globally at the recession, one of the reasons Australia was able to avoid falling into the same pit that many other countries suffered was because of the buoyancy of the economy. A buoyancy helped no doubt by a young, working population. Australia has strong export ties with China to produce LPG, additional gas reserves are still being discovered in Western Australia. In order for those multi-billion dollar gas projects to work, the companies need a good, young workforce. A reliance on Australian workers sees a shift in migration patterns, so workers migrating from Queensland to WA leaves Queensland short of skilled workers. Therefore immigration to Australia is vital for the Australian economy. Australia remains a top destination for British migrants precisely because there is work available whilst the UK is still busy making redundancies. There are always going to be problems with a growing population. Environmental concerns are great, but with a good infrastructure in place the population can be managed effectively. Australia cannot have it both ways, you cannot have a prosperous country without the workers to back it up. Immigration levels in Australia may be high, but the Department of Immigration and Citizenship are getting tougher on visa applications and with good communication within states, the DIAC can ensure that the right skilled workers are directed to exactly where they are needed. Perhaps it’s time that Australia stopped seeing population growth as a problem and started looking at the benefits it creates instead. Lisa Valentine | Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 9:36 am |