25 Million - Congratulations Australia
This week the official population of Australia hit 25 million people. Now that might not sound very much to the average American, European or any other country for that matter. We have a large country and relatively few people living in it.
The most alarming thing about this new milestone is how quickly we reached it. Estimates originally expected Australia to reach the 25 million population size somewhere closer to 2030, but 12 years earlier, here we are.
The question is how? Well statistics show that a booming immigration influx accounted for 62 per cent of the population increase. Overseas migration has grown exponentially and it is fuelling heated debates all over the country.
The Reserve Bank Governor lauded the increase due to immigration stating that:
It had produced a younger, more economically resilient nation, he told a business lunch in Sydney, adding migration “has helped our economy adjust to large swings in the demand for labour, and helped address some particular skills shortages.”
There are other views from within the community that are not so overly enthusiastic about the large boom in population. It is no surprise that some sections of the Australian community are quite negative towards immigration. Unfortunately Australia is a large and sparse country that has relatively few people living here. Eventually, if we are to keep pace with the rest of the world, we have to grow our population to spark economic growth and further prosperity. I am just not sure whether we need to grow so quickly.....
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It should be noted that a huge percentage of Australia is desert, arid and semi-arid land that barely gets any rainfall. It's sparsely populated because nobody wants to live those areas. There are huge challenges in day-to-day life in rural Australia and that lifestyle is not for everybody - especially new migrants who aren't used to that way of life. Using the existence of that space as justification for perpetual immigration is a poor excuse in my mind, unless we plan on building new towns and cities inland with infrastructure similar to that of the coastal cities.
Agreed ...right now its binary. .melbourne or sydney..
A regional city connected by high speed train to these cities and even 100 kms away will do well for current situation .
Agreed. High speed rail done right would be great. Maybe some regional universities and drought proofing inland towns and cities as well would be good a idea, given the fact that some inland towns almost ran out of water in the late 2000s through drought.
I was in california just before here and even that place was struggling with severe drought...water supply infrastructure needs some serious investment. .it is estimated most places in next generations will be paying 2k $ yearly for household water consumption ..
I am a new immigrant to Australia and will share my experience ....
Aus has got merit based ( skills+ English speaking) immigration system ,similar to Canada , which makes a lot of sense compared to other countries ( USA/UK).
Aus has been pretty easy on the merit threshold but they are ramping up the threshold for past 1-2 years , it has gotten way more difficult to qualify.
Aus seem to have enough land to accommodate people but not enough connected cities or manufacturing/tech jobs. Making new immigrants stay in regional areas for first few years won't be such bad idea.
Aus has gone Real Estate crazy , aussie oldies are making a bank and the new generation is locked out , I am locked out with them.
Using the existence of that space as justification for perpetual immigration is a poor excuse in my mind, unless we plan on building new towns and cities inland with infrastructure similar to that of the coastal cities.Aus seem to have enough land to accommodate people but not enough connected cities or manufacturing/tech jobs. Making new immigrants stay in regional areas for first few years won't be such bad idea.