Why do we keep falling for the idea that the rate of population growth in Australia is inevitable?

It's hard to suggest these somehow reflect racist views, given that both Sydney and Melbourne are highly multicultural cities and a diverse range of cultures would invariably be included in that sample.

So if rapid rates of growth are leading to obvious critical infrastructure shortages and eroding our quality of life in major cities, and if the majority of the population has significant reservations around the speed of growth and net overseas migration, why are we doing it?

There are arguments in favour of rapid growth – that it’s essential for the economy etc. Those arguments are often promoted by ‘big end of town’ interests motivated by selling cheap apartments or finding low-cost labour to plug labour resource gaps. Critics have argued that support of high migration policies are the equivalent of a pyramid scheme. Not all critics are cranks either, such as this article from the respected economist and journalist Terry McCrann:

The next big battle for rational policy that adds value to Australia and individual Australians and not just dollars to the bottom lines and bank balances of developers, construction companies and assorted billionaires has to be over population. Two years of the virus put Australia’s ‘Population Ponzi’ on hold – the idea that you could build a healthy and strongly growing economy on simply bringing more and more people into Melbourne and Sydney, every year, forever. Yes, we got bigger aggregate growth in the economy, but we most certainly didn’t get quality growth, that actually improves the lives of ordinary Australians.

The argument that we might be better advised to grow at more modest rates to ensure that our provision of critical infrastructure can keep up, and that our quality of life (and access to essentials like housing) doesn’t get worse, isn’t a discussion we seem ready to have.

Keep in mind too that the wealthy and privileged easily self-insulate from the adverse consequences of rapid growth, while enjoying the material benefits of it. They may promote higher infill housing density for their business interests’ sake, but rush to oppose it when a project threatens their own personal residential amenity. The problem of public hospital shortages doesn’t worry them either as they have the best private health cover available. Issues around state government schooling isn’t a worry, they have their children in the very best private schools. Rising household energy costs aren’t a concern for people who can afford $100,000 electric cars to openly demonstrate their eco credentials. And so it goes on.

There is nothing inevitable about our rates of population growth. They are the result of policy decisions we, as a nation, deliberately make. There is however something inevitable about the reluctance of our leaders in public policy, business and government to engage in an informed debate about the impacts of rapid growth and whether or not a more modest pace would benefit a greater number of people.