How we lit the fuse of the population bomb

Maybe it's time for a genuine reality check? I've always held the view Australia can readily support a larger population but in getting there, infrastructure standards need to keep up with growth, not continuously lag behind it. Housing and lifestyle choices don't have to be further compromised to serve a model of urban development that is at odds with broader public opinion. The idea that much of this growth should continue to be concentrated in just a handful of cities already under considerable strain while other centres with infrastructure capacity and abundant, affordable housing find growth eluding them, is plain crazy. Just plain crazy.

The answer, I suspect, is not to force people to settle cities and regions that are capable of absorbing growth but instead to make these cities and regions more attractive as places to settle. Jobs, industry and economic growth lie at the centre of this approach. Positive economic attraction strategies, reduced tax or red tape burdens, abundant and low cost utilities (power, gas, water), 'special economic zones' – all these can attract employers and industries, bringing with them jobs for workers and their families. And if regional employment were further supported by the type of place-making and related infrastructure support more typically only on offer in the centres of major capital cities, there's no reason at all that centres like Mackay, Armidale, Wagga Wagga, Orange, Casino, Bendigo and plenty of others can't enjoy growth without the accompanying political pain.

Sadly, even this rather obvious policy option isn't being explored. According to a recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald: "Inner-city centres on the east coast have amassed the greatest share of Australia's new public service jobs under the Coalition government as outer suburbs, bush towns and Canberra took cuts to their ranks of bureaucrats." So we not only concentrate our population into a few centres, but government jobs as well. This is hardly spreading the load or sharing the benefits.

Stopping growth by rapidly closing down immigration would be disastrous for industries that have come to rely on immigration, although, increasingly, this looks like a possibility. But equally, persisting with our current approach will only further aggravate hostile electorates in the major cities, while electorates in centres with little growth could well be equally cranky with governments for failing to produce growth where it's wanted.

The population debate's fuse has been lit. And perhaps we are the ones who lit it.