In 2011 the world's population exceeded 7 billion. Each year we add nearly 80 million people and by mid-century we will require twice as much food and double the energy we use today. Australia will be deeply affected by these trends - we have the fastest growing population of any developed nation.These are the staggering facts that confronted Dick Smith. They set him on his crusade to alert us to the dangers of unsustainable growth. They are the facts that have convinced him that if we are to ensure the survival of our civilisation and the health of the planet then we must put a stop to population growth, now.As our cities continue their unrestrained growth, as we battle daily on crowded public transport and clogged freeways, and as we confront the reality of water and power shortages, Dick challenges the long-held myth that growth is good for us. But more importantly he offers ways for us to re-invent our economy, to reassess the way we live and to at least slow down that ticking clock. This is a provocative, powerful and urgent call to arms.

Transformation of Australia's population, 1970-2030.

The chapters in this book reflect on the work of seminal Australian geographer, the late Professor Graeme Hugo. Graeme Hugo was widely respected because of his impressive contributions to scholarship and policy in the fields of migration, population and development, which spanned several decades. This collection of works contains contributions from authors whose own research has been influenced by Hugo; and includes numerous authors who worked closely with Hugo throughout his career. The collection provides an opportunity to reflect on Hugo’s legacy, and also to foreground contemporary scholarship in his key areas of research focus. The chapters are organised into two thematic threads. Part I contains works relating to ‘Population, Migration and Settlement in Australia’, while Part II focuses on ‘Labour and Environmental Migration in the Asia-Pacific’. Together, these two thematic threads provide broad coverage of Graeme Hugo’s key areas of research focus. The chapters also serve as a reminder of Hugo’s steadfast concern with producing careful scholarship for the public good, and seek to prompt continued work in this vein. The chapters originally published in special issues in Australian Geographer.

This volume provides evidence from many of Australia's leading scholars from a range of social science disciplines to support policies that address challenges presented by Australia's ageing population. It builds on presentations made to the 2014 Symposium of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. The material is in four parts: - Perspectives on Ageing - Population Ageing: Global, regional and Australian perspectives - Improving Health and Wellbeing - Responses by Government and Families/Individuals. 'The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia sees this volume as a major contribution to improving our understanding of Australia's population ageing. Social science research in this area truly underpins our ability as a nation to manage such demographic change, and its consequences for the economy and society. Such knowledge helps ensure that our citizens can live even better lives.' Glenn Withers, President, ASSA. 'It is fantastic that Australians are living longer and healthier lives but we need to address these demographic changes.' The Hon Joe Hockey MP, 2015 Intergenerational Report

This title was first published in 19/11/2001: This text addresses important questions about Australia's population size and distribution which are likely to dominate the country's politics in the 21st century. The book's approach to the population question begins with a broad analysis of Australia's wellbeing. A decline in the quality of life for many Australians, growing inequality and conflict suggest that Australia is overpopulated. Population size, however, does not explain Australia's problems. These are considered in the following chapters in the context of the shortcomings of Australia's democracy; the costs of maldevelopment in the distribution of the population; the mismanagement of resources; and the level of foreign ownership. The book then focuses on the changing external milieux and Australia's engagement with Asia. This analysis provides an understanding of building pressures for Australia to accept more migrants as well as the desirability for migration to promote Australia's integration with its Asian neighbours. In the last two chapters, the book examines the main domestic forces at work for a bigger or smaller population. It argues that Australia should be more generous and accept many more people than it presently does. Australia has room for many more people. Population distribution, however, is a critical issue in Australia's quest for a better future and population growth needs to be diverted away from the eastern seaboard and the main cities of Melbourne and Sydney to regional Australia. The book makes a case for population growth in coastal cities as part of northern Australia's regional development.

This lively and readable contribution to the optical debate on Australia's population and immigration policy (or lack of it) comes from one of the country's best known and most authoritative environmental writers. People Policy contains a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary, informative review of the background to, studies on and approaches to population policy. It draws heavily on submissions to the House of Representatives' committee of inquiry into Australia's population (the Jones Inquiry), which the author served as a consultant. Ever assertive and controversial, yet backing up his points with facts and figures, Doug Cocks puts the case for stabilising Australia's population through powerful arguments drawn from environmental, ecological, economic, social and quality-of-life considerations, balancing his personal views by outlining the full range of cases to be made and choices facing the country. People Policy is for general readers with environmental, green, political and social interests relating to human population studies; it has a glossary of demographic terms to assist lay readers. Being fully referenced with an extensive bibliography, it is also useful for students taking demography, population studies, population & human resources, and human ecology units in Geography, Environmental Studies, Demography, Population Studies, Social Policy, and Urban and Regional Planning programs. It will also interest demographers, planners and policymakers dealing with migration, social and economic development, and urban and regional planning.