Australia’s Population in the 21^st Century: Being Realistic

This is leading to nations having to think outside-in (what others think) not inside-out (only what we think)

It is leading to borderless finance, information, trade (WTO) and tourism. We are not far off the abolition not only of visas but also passports (at least within sovereign regions).

The bottom line is realism: get real, as Generation Xers would say.

A population density of 2-3 people/sq km or 12 people/sq km on 'useable land' will be indefensible. It is worth noting that in the 21st Century the world is likely to have the first city of 100 million people, according to at least one leading world urbanologist. If Australia had 50 new cities of 2 million people each around the coastline by the end of the 21st Century, they could be 750 km apart, a 11/2 hr plane trip!

Undoubtedly, Australians in the future will have to adopt world best practice in terms of a sustainable environment rather than assume that a static population is the best way to protect it.

In the second quarter (if not the end of the first quarter) of the 21st Century, the Asia Pacific is likely to become a sovereign region (a la EU, NAFTA, CIS). This will accelerate after the WTO Agreement (free trade) is a reality in the region around 2025. The then Asia Pacific Commission is likely to have population policies on the agenda in due course.

Perhaps a final note of realism centres on the time frames. If we look out to the end of the 21st Century, we are looking at 5-7 generations hence. Today's generations cannot make policy let alone legislate population levels that far out: subsequent generations can and will make up their own mind at the time. Therefore governments can only create policy for limited times, perhaps as short as an electoral period of three years. Beyond such short horizons, we are talking about wish-lists or forecasting.