Population and Climate Change Forum
On the 3rd of July this year SCEG held a Population and Climate Change Forum.
Amidst all the political debate in Australia, population growth has become inextricably linked to economic growth and our future prosperity. If the climate change problem is going to be addressed successfully, the global population growth rate cannot be ignored.
How necessary is population growth? Is growing the Australian population sustainable? Our speakers were:
Bob Birrell - demographer, Mark O'Connor - population commentator and author of Overloading Australia and Kelvin Thomson - MP for Wills
More info and links on the SCEG Population Growth page. Read more for our speakers biographies
Dr. Bob Birrell
Bob is the director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University in Melbourne. He is one of Australia's leading social scientists.
Biography: Bob has a degree in economics from Melbourne University, in history from University of London (first class honours) and a PhD in Sociology from Princeton University. Most of his academic work has been at Monash University and since 1991 this work has focussed on running the CPUR. He has acted as an advisor on immigration issues to both Labor and Coalition governments and was a member of the Commonwealth Government’s National Population Council from 1987–1993. Recently he was a member of the independent Review of the General Skilled Migration Program which reported in May 2006.
Publications: Bob is joint editor (with Katharine Betts ) of the quarterly demographic journal People and Place, published by CPUR. A selection of his other publications is noted in the following research listing and in the CPUR publication list.
Mark O'Connor
Born 1945, Melbourne Australia. Graduated English-Classics Hons. 1 and First Place from Melbourne University in 1965. Taught at the University of Western Australia and at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Author of 17 books, including This Tired Brown Land, a study of sustainability, population, and ecology in Australia. Bob Carr in his "Best Books of 1998" article in the Sydney Morning Herald (5 December 1998) described it as "the most important Australian Book of recent times", and Tim Flannery remarked that it "may chart the ground over which debate [sc. on Australia's environmental future] will rage." Formerly the Thomas Ramsay Science and Humanities Fellow at the Museum of Victoria, and the ANUs Creative Arts Fellow 1999. Contributing editor of Oxford University Press's Protected Area Management: Principles and Practices (2001). Author of numerous articles on environmental and resource issues, most recently a 10,000 word article on The Ecology of Australia in the latest Edinburgh Review. Extensive conference experience, especially as a keynote speaker, e.g. at the 2007 Australian Water Association and NSW Stormwater Conferences. Many ABC talks, including six talks on Occams Razor. Co-author of Overloading Australia: How governments and media dither and deny on population, Envirobook 2008 revised 2010, by Mark O'Connor and William Lines, see www.australianpoet.com/overloading.html Overloading Australia has been endorsed by Professors Ian Lowe, Robert Birrell and Mark Diesendorf. Email:
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Kelvin Thomson
Populate and perish, says Member for Wills MP Kelvin Thomson. Mr Thomson has in recent months spoken in Parliament and in public about his desire to put the brakes on Australia’s - and the planet’s - population growth rate. His 14 point plan provides concrete details on how this could be achieved. As well as slashing skilled migration and the family reunion program, Mr Thomson wants the abolition of the baby bonus and restrictions on family supplements and tax benefits.
Kelvin was born in Coburg in 1955 and went to school at Pascoe Vale North Primary School, later winning a scholarship to Essendon Grammar School. He has first class honours degrees in Arts and Law (winner of the Supreme Court Prize 1987) from the University of Melbourne. Before entering Parliament Kelvin worked for the Commonwealth Public Service, as an electorate officer, project officer for the Commonwealth Ombudsman and principal project officer for Australia Post. He joined the ALP in 1975. He was elected as a Coburg councillor in 1981 and served two terms as deputy mayor until 1988 when he was elected to the Victorian Parliament as the Member for Pascoe Vale He was re-elected in 1992 and served in the Shadow Cabinet from 1992-1994. In 1996 he was elected to the Federal Parliament as the Member for Wills. From 1998 to March 2007 Kelvin served in a range of Shadow Ministries, including Assistant Treasurer, Environment and Heritage, Regional Development, Roads and Housing, Public Accountability, Human Services and Attorney General.
In November 2007 Kelvin was re-elected to the Federal Parliament as Member for Wills.