what is Australia's ideal population?

[geelong_crazy26]

what is Australia's ideal population? some say that we should aim for a population of 50 million and others say that we are already overpopulated and should decrease our population.

I think from a security point of view we should be looking to boost our numbers up to around 50 million but than how much problems would we have with our water levels , we cant manage ATM?

 

[WA ROO]

what is Australia's ideal population? some say that we should aim for a population of 50 million and others say that we are already overpopulated and should decrease our population.

I think from a security point of view we should be looking to boost our numbers up to around 50 million but than how much problems would we have with our water levels , we cant manage ATM?

16 mil

 

[Qsaint]

what is Australia's ideal population? some say that we should aim for a population of 50 million and others say that we are already overpopulated and should decrease our population.

I think from a security point of view we should be looking to boost our numbers up to around 50 million but than how much problems would we have with our water levels , we cant manage ATM?

We wouldn't have water problems if we utilised the actual water we have, anyway as long as most of the Newbe's lived above a line from Geralton (sp) to Rockhampton we could easily get to 50 mil

 

[dan warna]

depends on who you talk to.

60 million would give us a european type population giving us critical numbers to domestically develop a more dynamic secondary manufacturing industry.

60 million would put pressure on our water supply which while would be sufficient for domestic consumption would require a massive development ot maintain arable land usage.

also while we may sufficiently feed domestically 60 million, the capacity to export our surplus would be rapidly eroded. that would mean our capacity to import would diminish commensurately, thus relying on more domestic manufacturing, if we can develop it in time.

IMO i see nothing wrong per se with a 60 million population, however the transition should be long and slow to allow our economy to adjust, and develop industries.

radical suggestions such as dotting the nations coast line with desal plants doesn't alter the fact we don't really have the 6 metres of top soil that europe has, and its more like 6 inches.

 

[RUNVS]

If the CSIRO ever achieve the holy grail then Australia will be capable of sustaining a population of 60 million. That holy grail is turning desert soil into fertile soil which from what ive heard they have been working on for a number of years. Until the day were that is possible then i think 21 million is more than enough.

 

[finders]

If we could encourage more people to live in the fertile north of West Aussie we could host 100 million.
Plus who knows what new efficent water producing technologies will be invented in the future?

 

[Kurt Angle ©]

Minimum of 100 million.

Water is a concern to our curernt demographics, located south of the tropic of Capricorn.

4 cities, built Singapore style at Emouth, Karratha, Darwin and Normanton would add another 15+million to our population with no water shortages.

For all the water as the Ord has, the Fitzroy has much more, you could dam that and have it suffice for a 10+ million megapolis.

 

[WA ROO]

Minimum of 100 million.

Water is a concern to our curernt demographics, located south of the tropic of Capricorn.

4 cities, built Singapore style at Emouth, Karratha, Darwin and Normanton would add another 15+million to our population with no water shortages.

For all the water as the Ord has, the Fitzroy has much more, you could dam that and have it suffice for a 10+ million megapolis.

100 mil is nucking futs
We are 5 mil over what is sustainable now

 

[scotty13]

There is plenty of water up here.

What we receive annully in rain is more than what Australia as a country uses in a year. Therefor All of Australia could live in Darwin and still not have water shortages.

 

[Mr Q]

4 cities, built Singapore style at Emouth, Karratha, Darwin and Normanton would add another 15+million to our population with no water shortages.

Have you actually looked at the amount of (fresh) water in the Pilbara? Karratha has **** all water, Exmouth even less up on the Cape. Pilbara "rivers" don't run unless there's been a cyclone through. You're talking about just about the driest part of the continent. They'd be lucky to support towns of 50,000, let alone the four million or so you're proposing. Plus they've got crap climates for eight months of the year.

For all the water as the Ord has, the Fitzroy has much more, you could dam that and have it suffice for a 10+ million megapolis.

There's a reason people don't live en masse in the Kimberley - it's climate is for the most part unliveably hot. Sure it's fine in the winter, but it's crap the rest of the year round. There's no way you could ever convince 10 million people it's a good idea to live there.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

need to spread out the population.

 

[Giants FC]

From a Sydneysider's perspective - with housing prices already up beyond what normal people can afford, with traffic and public transport congestion already over capacity, with water, electricity and other infrastructure already under pressure; we're already overpopulated. We should be reducing immigration, not increasing it.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

With the proper $$$ spending and infrastructure development, we could quite easily sustain upwards of 60 million...100 million might be pushing it, but could be done.

It will take a quantum ideological shift though. Perhaps if the WA mining boom continues for another 15-20 years, there will be enough '2nd generationers' to support continual growth there. I would be suprised if Sydney/Melbourne grew substantially, but feel that Brisbane, Perth, maybe Adelaide still have growth.

And if the money was there for infrastructure (roads, INTERNET, shipping, airport), you could move upwards of 10 million into Tasmania (don't laugh) without major issues.

But all that relies on intelligent usage of limited resources (esp $$) ...in other words it ain't going to happen.

 

[Kurt Angle ©]

Have you actually looked at the amount of (fresh) water in the Pilbara? Karratha has **** all water, Exmouth even less up on the Cape. Pilbara "rivers" don't run unless there's been a cyclone through.

Yes, and when you get that deluge, you get a sh*tload of water.

They currently don't tay there because it runs out to sea.

A marveklous invention however, called the dam, pretty modern, only around 4,500 years old can assist in capturing this water.

You're talking about just about the driest part of the continent. They'd be lucky to support towns of 50,000, let alone the four million or so you're proposing. Plus they've got crap climates for eight months of the year.

There's a reason people don't live en masse in the Kimberley - it's climate is for the most part unliveably hot. Sure it's fine in the winter, but it's crap the rest of the year round. There's no way you could ever convince 10 million people it's a good idea to live there.

So if spoilt, white, middle class welfare dependents don't want to live there, then find someone else who will.

It's not the hottest part of the planet, large tracts of India have a similar climate. Give them the option of getting out of call centres for mining wages I'm sure they'll jump at it.

 

[Mr Q]

Yes, and when you get that deluge, you get a sh*tload of water.

They currently don't tay there because it runs out to sea.

A marveklous invention however, called the dam, pretty modern, only around 4,500 years old can assist in capturing this water.

I think you might want to think this through a bit more. Or even a lot more.

These places average well less than 300mm in a year - many years that would be less than 100mm.

As for damming the rivers - it's a useless plan, they run across a massively flat flood plain and run kilometers wide when they break their banks after a cyclone (I can remember pictures of the Ashburton running 10km wide about a decade ago). Here for instance, is an example of what you're suggesting damming:

So if spoilt, white, middle class welfare dependents don't want to live there, then find someone else who will.

It's not the hottest part of the planet, large tracts of India have a similar climate. Give them the option of getting out of call centres for mining wages I'm sure they'll jump at it.

Maybe it's not, but there's a reason it's one of the most uninhabited - it's inhospitable. And they wouldn't all be getting mining wages - there aren't that many jobs in the mining sector; in fact I'm not sure what you want millions of people to do when you dump them on the edge of a desert.

 

[linga_is_no1]

The environment cant cope with much more, especially another 20 million people. As it is please.

 

[Giants FC]

Another working day in Sydney, another commute to work in a sardine-tin train this morning, while the roads were gridlocked. Massively increasing Australia's population will only make this worse - Sydney's infrastructure can't cope with our current population, let alone doubling it.
Not to mention that the additional people will be bidding against us for somewhere to live, further worsening the housing crisis.

Economic rationalists may want a bigger population, but in the real world - driving down Windsor Road at 8:30am or getting on a train at Town Hall at 5:15pm - it's not going to work.

 

[acker]

We wouldn't have water problems if we utilised the actual water we have, anyway as long as most of the Newbe's lived above a line from Geralton (sp) to Rockhampton we could easily get to 50 mil

30 million people above the Tropic of Capricorn in this sunburnt country

Other than the Ord irrigation scheme (Kunnunurra WA), Darwin, Katherine, Burdekin irrigation scheme (inland from Ayr), Fairburn irrigation scheme (Emerald) and a slither of land hugging the coast from Mossman to Rocky there is not a hell of a lot on offer up there.

Except vast fairly flat tracts of for the most part low rainfall land varying from desert to low grade pastoral zones.

Northern WA the desert literally meets the coast. Plus vast areas of the Kimberly, Arnhem Land, Katherine George, Cape York and the Whitsunday area adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef are national parks/ world heritage listed areas.

IMHO

1. the Ord area could possibly handle another 500K to 1 million
2. Katherine and Darwin another 500K
3. Far North Queensland (Mossman to Cardwell) another 1 million
4. Burdekin scheme another 200K
5. Emerald area another 50K-100K

Some of this would require smaller parcels of irrigation land being apportioned up there rather than huge holdings to huge farmers.

There is still plenty of room to move people back into our exsisting rural regional areas, if the government got serious about de-centralization again.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

immigration to sydney and melbourne should become restricted. encourage new immigrants to regional towns or adelaide and hobart. create new cities to spread out the population if it continues to increase.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

why is Americas population so much bigger than ours when we both have similar land sizes ? is it just simply due to soil quality ?

 

[RUNVS]

why is Americas population so much bigger than ours when we both have similar land sizes ? is it just simply due to soil quality ?

Americans dont believe in birth control. Every redneck is able to have 12 children.

 

[TigerCraig]

why is Americas population so much bigger than ours when we both have similar land sizes ? is it just simply due to soil quality ?

Plus inland rivers and lakes

 

[Mr Q]

why is Americas population so much bigger than ours when we both have similar land sizes ? is it just simply due to soil quality ?

Differences in rainfall patterns as well - if Australia was another ten degrees to the south and had some proper mountains it would probably be very different weather wise. Plus it probably really would have been uninhabited until modern times.

 

[acker]

Plus inland rivers and lakes

Lakes bigger than Victoria + they have a few of them.

Plus a river (Missisippi/Missouri) that makes the Murray/Darling look like a small open drain.

 

[bit_pattern]

why is Americas population so much bigger than ours when we both have similar land sizes ? is it just simply due to soil quality ?

The Mississip', baby. That thing carries more water than all of Australia's rivers put together.