City's population explosion threatens urban devastation

This article was published in The Age 5 November 2009

In 1949, Australia's population was 8 million, and Melbourne's about 1.25 million. Treasury secretary Ken Henry is now predicting populations in 2049 of 35 million and 7 million, respectively.

We have struggled to manage our transport systems, water supplies, pollution and urban expansion during moderate growth since the 1940s. How will we manage a growth explosion that Henry says will demand ''the largest structural adjustment in Australian history''?

The contribution of Roads Minister Tim Pallas (also known as the Minister for Large Trucks) is more freeways, more lanes on existing freeways, bigger trucks extended clearways, and the alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of farming and recreation land.