LIKE Brendan Lee ("The benefits of adding to nation's big Aussie family", opinion, April 2), I too grew up in a large family. My Catholic parents only had six children.
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He is right about immigration. It is a good thing. Diversity is good. Having more entrepreneurial people is good too. So is having a good education system to produce smart, forward-thinking citizens who will discuss the big issues and help our nation become a better place to live.
But he is wrong to suggest that Australia and New Zealand would have "imploded decades ago" if not for immigration.
According to the International Monetary Fund, seven out of the top 10 per capita GDP (gross domestic product) countries have populations under 10 million.
The success or otherwise of any particular country is not tied to its size or the median age of its population. The five most prosperous countries in the world (from the Legatum Prosperity Index) have fewer than 10 million people.
The GDP of Norway, the most prosperous country in the world, has fallen over the last few years. The GDP per capita of Germany and Japan has increased while their population growth has decreased as well as their actual population.
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The old-age dependency ratio (that is, the idea that we need more young people paying taxes to support a growing number of seniors) does not consider the health status of a country's population.
For example, 15 per cent of Australians are over the age of 65. In Japan, it's 25pc, but their health costs per capita are lower than ours. We need to look past the idea that bigger is better.
One thing is certain: the sooner we develop a population policy the better. The current Federal Government only started to develop its policy at the end of last year.
IN OTHER NEWS AROUND BATHURST:
The NSW Government, too, was forced to start talking about population when people in Sydney complained more loudly about congestion and the Opal Tower looked like it might fall over.
Bathurst Regional Council doesn't have a population policy either: the word is mentioned a lot in its documents, but council falls short of actually saying what level of population will provide the best quality of life for our citizens.
