Population zealots aim at the wrong targets

This article was published in The Australian 12 May 2010

Population growth has become a political issue, with the federal government establishing a portfolio with the task of developing a population strategy, while the opposition has threatened to reduce net immigration.

However, it would be a mistake to tailor population policy and the size of the immigration intake to domestic policy failures in areas such as housing, infrastructure and the labour market.

The pressures of a growing population instead should be seen as adding to the case for the much-needed structural reforms that have been neglected by successive governments at both the state and federal levels.