Another overpopulation rant coming as I wake up to the news today: “90,000 new housing blocks for Victoria” (The Age) and “Brumby fast-tracks land for housing” (Herald-Sun). The State Government’s so-called solution to the housing crisis is to build more houses – and thus encroach on yet more valuable open land and wilderness. And if that’s not bad enough, the PM is considering importing foreign workers to build these houses!
The blindingly obvious solution of restricting population growth so that demand for housing is reduced seems not to occur to PM John Brumby (whom I am coming to detest as much as I did Jeff Kennett - both are obsessed with “growth” no matter what the environmental cost). In the same edition is another article saying that water restrictions will stay because of the ongoing drought. Something of a contradiction here! I am so disgusted and furious at seeing what made Melbourne a liveable city – its open spaces and low urban density – destroyed.
“An inconvenient truth about rising immigration”, Sydney Morning Herald, 3/3. Those who criticise high immigration rates risk being accused of “racism” (see “Conspiracy of silence and exclusion: the Shunning of Immigration Critics by the BBC, ABC and CBC”), but such criticism has nothing to do with that issue; just the simple fact that you can’t keep importing huge numbers of people without putting a tremendous strain on resources, and creating stress from overcrowding.
The wonder of it is that, despite the deterioration in affordability, house prices are continuing to rise strongly almost everywhere except Sydney’s western suburbs. Why is this happening? Probably because immigrants are adding to the demand for housing, particularly in the capital cities, where they tend to end up. They need somewhere to live and, whether they buy or rent, they’re helping to tighten demand relative to supply. It’s likely that the greater emphasis on skilled immigrants means more of them are capable of outbidding younger locals. In other words, winding back the immigration program would be an easy way to reduce the upward pressure on house prices.
Finally, there’s the effect on climate change. Emissions of greenhouse gases are caused by economic activity, but the bigger your population, the more activity. So the faster your population is growing the faster your emissions grow.
