One of the surprising things about Australia is that for a country that is 77% the size of Canada and with a much more appealing climate (albeit a bit on the warm dry side) the population of Australia (20 million) is only 60% of that in Canada (33 million). While 90% of Canadians live within 100 km of the US border the same could be said about Australians and the coastline.
The population and growth rate is such a concern among economists here that they even have a baby bonus of $5000 given to happy parents for each new bundle of joy. Staff here at the Grampians are doing their part with two members both expecting twins in the next few months with their respective partners. Economic stimulus packages have focused as well on per child packages so there are plenty of incentives.
Given that Australia is the driest inhabited continent on the globe and water is already a major issue (too much in some areas and not enough in others lately) perhaps the reason Australia doesn't have more people is obvious. With the low rainfall and high evaporation rates one might think that Australians are very conservative with water but apparently Australia has one of the highest per capita consumption rates of water in the world. Perhaps those limitations don't factor well into economics, but it just seems a bit self defeating somehow.
1 comment:
I never did completely understand economics, except perhaps for supply and demand. However, I think in south east Australia it is beyond doubt that the supply of water doesn't meet demand even now with the current population and yet we are encouraging people to have more children? As the Aussies say "Go figure", as Frank said "fair suck of the sav" it's enough to cause a major "dummy spit" :-)
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