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from 19 million to 27 million in one decade. How do we sustain that? I realise that the boom times in Australia were in my mum and dad's years but now within the next decade we will see mass retirements. so we need workers ...Fair enough.

But how are we to feed everyone? Our water supplies are dwindling (the murray dowling pipe line is testament to that.) The new desal plant is being built. We are scrambling for water sources now ....what's going to happen in hte future if the population rises anymore?

Now you know how we feel in the UK, with all the mostly unchecked immigration. Except we do have the water etc. But if they don't stop this massive immigration into our little island, we'll all sink under the chuffin weight !!!!

fuzzywuzzy;1279773 wrote: from 19 million to 27 million in one decade. How do we sustain that? I realise that the boom times in Australia were in my mum and dad's years but now within the next decade we will see mass retirements. so we need workers ...Fair enough.

But how are we to feed everyone? Our water supplies are dwindling (the murray dowling pipe line is testament to that.) The new desal plant is being built. We are scrambling for water sources now ....what's going to happen in hte future if the population rises anymore?


China is adding 7 million people a year to their present 1.3 billion population. Think OZ will have feeding problems? It's going to be a real problem for many countries.

Their might even come a time when cannibalism abounds. Or, shades of "Soylent Green".

G#Gill;1279783 wrote: Now you know how we feel in the UK, with all the mostly unchecked immigration. Except we do have the water etc. But if they don't stop this massive immigration into our little island, we'll all sink under the chuffin weight !!!!


Play fair Gill, the UK has moved from 53,000,000 to 61,000,000 in a pretty straight line over the past fifty years (15% increase). In the same timescale Australia has moved from 10,000,000 to 22,000,000, again in a pretty straight line (120% increase). They're hardly comparable.

There are two viewpoints. One's from inside - if it goes on we'll be less comfortable. One's from outside - if we went there we'd be more comfortable. Both are true. How do you decide which carries more weight? We're all human, we all live on the same planet, the only thing keeping borders closed is internal selfishness. I think the net benefit is to open the borders and let comfort find its own balance. If too may come, the remainder will stop saying they'd be more comfortable if they moved and the movement would end. The result of open borders is a net increase in comfort. I'm amazed anyone can be so selfish as to argue against it.

spot: Not everyone is as coolly rational as you! I reckon it wold be a recipe for conflict.

Clodhopper;1279913 wrote: spot: Not everyone is as coolly rational as you! I reckon it wold be a recipe for conflict.


Conflict between whom? Them and Us? There's only a Them and Us because there's closed borders. There's no Them and Us between, for example, the English and Welsh or the men of Wessex and the men of Suffolk. There's still a difference, and they're still competitive and they make jokes about each other but there's no conflict in the way you mean. Open borders have brought the conflict to an end.

fuzzywuzzy;1279773 wrote: from 19 million to 27 million in one decade. How do we sustain that? I realise that the boom times in Australia were in my mum and dad's years but now within the next decade we will see mass retirements. so we need workers ...Fair enough.

But how are we to feed everyone? Our water supplies are dwindling (the murray dowling pipe line is testament to that.) The new desal plant is being built. We are scrambling for water sources now ....what's going to happen in the future if the population rises anymore?


If you're seeing mass retirements then that demographic will be too old to reproduce, hence a lesser population rise.

Fresh water can be extracted from saline. It is one solution, albeit a highly expensive one.

Genetic engineering is a solution for food crops, although a far from ideal one.

We are trying to increase the carrying capacity of the planet in a toxic and unsustainable way.

Say no to genetic engineering | Greenpeace International