Larvatus Prodeo

It’s been a couple of weeks since Ken Henry’s speech at QUT kicked off something of a debate about Australia’s future population. Henry – noting carefully that he was speaking only for himself, not Treasury – raised concerns about the effects of projections of a population increase to 35 million people by 2050, notably on our large cities, and the broader Australian environment. Kevin Rudd stated – in a rather revealing off-the-cuff response in an interview with Kerry O’Brien – that he is unambiguously in favour of a “Big Australia”:

KERRY O’BRIEN…Does that suggest to you, when you think of all of the associated problems about trying to plan for that, in terms of urban … he talks about Sydney with a population of seven million, Melbourne a population of seven million, Brisbane four million. Is this going to be a time for national leader to come well and truly to the fore across the whole spectrum of problems thrown up by that?

KEVIN RUDD: Well first of all Kerry, let me just say: I actually believe in a big Australia. I make no apology for that. I actually think it’s good news that our population is growing.

Contrast that with many countries in Europe where in fact it’s heading in the reverse direction. I think it’s good for us, it’s good for our national security long term, it’s good in terms of what we can sustain as a nation.

Secondly, on the specific national leadership questions that you point to, I agree with you 110 per cent. Why do you think that we are now, for the first time in this country’s history taking national leadership for the roll-out of national infrastructure, and new national broadband network. For the first time the Australian Government investing directly in urban rail projects across Australia, for the first time the Australian Government taking a direct engagement with the planning of our cities, and also with, for example, the housing approval processes and land supply arrangements of the states and territories and local government. Why? National leadership is necessary to plan for the future of our population, a challenge which has left languished before.

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