Overloading Australia - Podcast
Mark O'Connor's presentation to SCEG in August 2009
We would like to thank Mark O'Connor, co-author of Overloading Australia for his presentation.
If you missed out but would still like hear his presentation it is available in mp3 format below. Because of the length, the file has been split into 4 easy to download parts.
Overview
It’s the issue Australian governments don’t want to talk about, but more and more people are asking: “What about population growth?”
After a decade of being told Australia’s population would naturally cap itself at under 25 million, or might even fall, we now discover it is growing at the more than Third World rate of 1.7% a year, and on course to reach 42 million by 2050…
“Australia’s population is growing rapidly. In March 2009 it stood at 21.6 million. The current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, takes it for granted that it will grow to 35 million by 2051. .......... But while stories of water shortages and degraded infrastructure abound, few of the public figures who comment on them acknowledge the role of population growth in creating these problems and making them harder to overcome.” Katharine Betts Review of Overloading Australia, Mark O’Connor and William J. Lines
“Nearly all the environmental problems which we face are exacerbated by profligate population growth. Our continuing failure to address this problem may be a source of consternation and puzzlement to future generations. .......... It is astonishing that anyone can suppose that concern about a rich, diverse, sustainable future can avoid addressing the question of population.” Introduction to Mark O’Connor by William Grey (Philosophy HPRC, University of Queensland) 23 Jan 2009