Reports about Australia not being able to cope with its projected population growth of 65 per cent over the next 40 years are “alarmist”, federal minister for Finance, Lindsay Tanner, has claimed.
The notion that Australia is already overpopulated is “nonsense” and it will be “rightly laughed at” if it continues to claim so on the world stage, the MP said, at a lunch organized by the Property Council of Australia, on Friday.
Instead of baulking at immigration policy and mulling population caps, the nation should be focusing on better urban policy, stronger infrastructure and increased in-fill development, Tanner said.
“The primary source of stress on our urban and natural environments is bad management, not population growth. For most of the last century we treated natural resources, like land, water and forests, as if they were infinite. We’re now paying the price,” he said.
The Rudd government’s announcement that it will develop national criteria for urban planning is an attempt to redress the shortcomings of previous years of infrastructure and urban planning, he said.
The focus of these criteria will include balancing in-fill with Greenfield development, implementing plans to reduce greenhouse emissions and supporting world-class design.
The sprawling lateral growth of cities has complicated the supply-demand ratio for housing and there is still “significant work” to be done to reduce the cost of homes, Tanner said.
“Regardless of what form of development is used, integration with transport networks, infrastructure and services is vital. Isolated communities breed social exclusion.”
While there is no need to “wring our hands” about population growth, there is an “urgent need” to sort out the fast delivery of infrastructure, mediate house prices and improve sustainability, Tanner said.
