Immigration to swell Australia's population to 35 million by 2049

From the ABC:

Australian population set to soar

Posted Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:10am AEST

The Federal Government has significantly upgraded its population forecasts for Australia to over 35 million people within 40 years.

The Government says its third intergenerational report will show the country's population is expected to grow by 65 per cent by the year 2049.

That is significantly higher than the Government's Second Intergenerational Report which predicted a rise to about 29 million people.

The Government says the revised prediction is due to improved fertility rates, a higher number of women who are within child-bearing age, and an increasing number of immigrants.

More from The Straits Times:

Australian population ‘set to hit 35m’

SYDNEY, Sept 19 — As Australia's population is set to jump from its present 21.9 million to 35 million in just 40 years, experts are warning that the huge increase will pose serious challenges to the nation.

Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday announced that Australia's population was expected to grow by 65 per cent by 2049 — “significantly higher” than the projection of 28.5 million by 2047 released two years ago.

Swan said this was largely driven by a greater number of women of child-bearing age, a higher fertility rate of 1.9 births per woman and an increased number of younger migrants.

“Along with climate change, this is the most serious challenge we face,” he said.

While the number of young and working-age people is projected to grow by 45 per cent, the senior population is also expected to double.

He said careful environmental and infrastructural planning would be required to support the boom and ageing of the workforce.

Moreover, as the country's average age grew, government spending would have to be increased, which in turn would lead to lower real gross domestic product per person, he said. “Together, these factors (pose) very substantial fiscal pressures,” he said.

Concerns about health, old-age care and pensions are also expected to grow as those aged 65 and over increase, accounting for 22 per cent of the population.

They currently make up 13 per cent, up from just 8 per cent in 1969.

Population analysts also warn that the projected increase may have unexpected social and political repercussions, especially if the number of migrants continues to be as high as it has been since the start of this decade.

Figures from the Department of Immigration show that since 2000, Australia took in an average of about 120,000 migrants each year, with the trend increasing.

Dr Dharma Arunachalam, director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University in Melbourne, said that should this rate be sustained or even increased, some Australians might find it difficult to adjust to the changing demographics.

Bill Mitchell, vice-president of the Australian Local Government Association, said the projected rise would put a strain on the basic infrastructure of the larger cities, in particular, water.

“Right now, most of the capital cities in Australia have some sort of water restriction,” he said. “So unless the various state governments can get desalination plants up and running before too long, people in those cities might not have enough water.”

He also said that state governments should start encouraging people to move to regional centres and towns to ease the burden on the capital cities. “They must ensure that health, education and law-and-order facilities must be adequately provided in the rural areas.”

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is upbeat about the projections.

“I think that it's great that our population's growing because so many countries around the rest of the world are shrinking and that poses a real problem in terms of having a strong tax base for the future and a strong economy and a strong nation for the future,” he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.

These numbers are staggering and a clear indication of how out of control immigration now is. To put it into perspective, the total projected population growth from immigration and births to natives as well as immigrants is equal to the combined populations of Ireland and Portugal.

How is Australia expected to cope - socially, environmentally and economically - with such a huge population explosion? What impact will this massive population increase have on quality-of-life issues such as urban sprawl, overcrowding, traffic congestion, overburdened infrastructure and services, housing costs, stress on the environment and natural resources such as water, loss of open spaces, and pollution?

Given that immigration will be the prime driver of this projected population explosion, it also raises disturbing questions about what kind of nation Australia will become in terms of its ethnic and cultural character. Although no one can say for sure, it is reasonable to assume that, if these projections are borne out, what is now a nation of mostly European-descended people will become a nation of mostly Asian and Third World peoples by the mid 21st century.

This means that, unless we change course, the Australia in which most citizens grew up will be swept away forever by an immigration-driven demographic tsunami. Most of the immigration that will fuel this demographic revolution will come from non-Western countries where the customs, habits, and values of the people are radically different from Australia's historic, British-derived cultural pattern. Australia will become an increasingly alien place.


"But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is upbeat about the projections."

Kevin Rudd may be upbeat, as may big business and the multicultural lobby, but the rest of us should be weeping in despair at these shocking projections.