Population Debate on ABC TV

Apr 20, 2010

See the video and transcript here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2870846.htm?show=transcript

Question: Gordon Hocking asked: Recent surveys show that voters want a stable population well below the 36 million mark. But economists and big business want continuous growth without explaining just what that means. A world-average population growth rate is 1.1 percent but in Australia growth is now 2.1 per cent, which would give us a population of 50 million by 2050...
What population growth rate would you advocate?

Question: Dick Smith asked via video: My question is to Heather Ridout: Heather, you have been a supporter of high immigration levels and you are also on the board of Skills Australia, which recently delivered what I think is a quite disturbing report on the skills level of Australian workers.That report found that 4 million Australians suffered from a severe lack of literacy and numeracy skills to the point of being functionally illiterate. It would appear to me that that's a shocking waste of local talent. How can you support the large influx of foreign workers when it would appear that Australian workers are being abandoned when it comes to training? 

What's your opinion?

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