New Party wants Population Debate

William Bourke is proposing a new political party to question the wisdom of the Kevin Rudd plan to increase Australia's population from 22 million to 35 million by 2050. He believes that the Prime Minster's plans are out of touch with the feelings of most voters. He is concerned that the only debate on the population issue is on how to deal with the consequences, whereas the important question is whether such growth is desirable.
This relates very closely to the recent interest in the Hornsby Shire's Housing Strategy, which proposes to build five storey residential blocks all around Hornsby Shire to accommodate all the new immigrants due to arrive here. As reported elsewhere in this blog, the residents of Beecroft and Cheltenham seem to be questioning the viability of an explosion of small appartments on what is now Beecroft Village.
An interesting comment by Dick Smith was "all governments encouraged high levels of growth because that was what big business wanted, especially property developers, who depended on an ever-increasing demand for accommodation to maximise their profits".