Thursday, April 14, 2016

Population Growth Driving Infrastructure Deficit

Josh Gordon is absolutely right to raise the problems associated with Melbourne's rapid population growth of the past decade. It is absolutely correct that politicians and economists are allowed to get away with murder by talking about economic growth when they should be required to talk about GDP per capita. It is like saying that because more people have moved into your street, that the street has more money, and therefore you are richer. You are not personally richer at all – indeed the probability is that your street is more crowded and that in amenity you are poorer.

Melbourne's rapid population growth is the reason there is an infrastructure problem. The Queensland academic Jane O'Sullivan has done research which shows that in a stable population the community needs to set aside around 2 per cent of its income to repair and replace ageing infrastructure, but that in a community growing by 1 per cent it needs to set aside 3 per cent of its income to keep up, and in a community growing by 2 per cent it needs to set aside 4 per cent of its income. The infrastructure task doubles, with only 2 per cent extra people to pay for it.
 
Little wonder that Councils and State Governments in rapidly growing populations are unable to keep up. It is not that they are lazy or incompetent or corrupt, it is that the task is too big for anyone. This is also why we are seeing so many Councillors and State Governments having short political life expectancies. If they worked on getting the Federal Government to reduce the greatly increased net migration rate of recent years, their job would become achievable and their political life expectancy would increase.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/governments-cannot-keep-using-population-growth-to-inflate-economic-figures-20160412-go4wxz.html

9 comments:

  1. Great post, thank you. There is a definite need to #REDUCEIMMIGRATION. Check out this website: https://reduceimmigration.wordpress.com/

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  2. I could not agree more with you Kelvin. You have my total support for your stand. Your presence in Parliament will be greatly missed after the next election. You have my very best wishes for a long and happy retirement from parliament.

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  3. Australia just has to call a halt to ALL immigration, for a number of years, to allow our infrastructure to catch up. Our birth rate is sound enough to cope with 'replacement'.

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  4. Economists and the big end of town are the only one's to benefit from our rapidly growing population. I totally agree with Kelvin's comments and congratulate him on the fight he is putting up to bring this issue into the public domain.

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  5. My husband and I married in 1960 and decided that population growth was becoming uncontrollable so we had no children now (at 78 and 80) we are thankful we made that decision! Unfortunately people like us are called selfish and irresponsible. Maybe it is time for governments to give financial bonuses to childless couples instead of paying people to have children and then paying more to finance the having of .....

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  6. How heartening to see a sign of sense in Australia. And, as we all know, GDP includes stuff that augments well-being and stuff that does not. As population continues to grow, the balance of GDP shifts to the bad side of the ledger.

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  7. Socially engineered population growth as we have in Australia is a disservice to all who live here. The principle is the same as increasing the allowed density of "free range" hens. It is to the detriment of the hens and to the financial benefit of the business owner. High population growth in Australia is to the detriment of the incumbent population and to the benefit of the rich business owners who do not have to put up with overcrowding, traffic and scarcity of amenity. The first step in rectifying what is happening to us to recognize it.

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  8. Also thank you for not blaming it on migration which is only a part of the problem. Governments sink time and time again from not being able to financial support their business model.

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