Population crisis !

Just what is the " right " number of people to call Australia home ? The suggestion that Australia will have a population of thirty five million by 2049 has caused a divisive debate.

There is a school of thought that suggests we are already overpopulated in relation to the capacity of this country to cope. Lack of water and what some consider a " wasteful lifestyle " is creating a unsustainable " carbon footprint ".

We are certainly seeing an increase in arriving immigrants. So far this year we have accommodated 97,000 new people and boats containing illegals are arriving off our northern coastline at the rate of several a week.

What is an undeniable fact is that the world population is relentlessly increasing, but this is not uniform. Australia, Saudi Arabia, India and the US are increasing countries - while Japan and Russia face a shrinking number of citizens. The world will shortly exceed seven billion people.

The statistics tell a different story. Where the surge in population is greatest is in the developing world, and that is where we are heading into a new danger - a shortage of food !

The scientific world has been warning us for years that we are moving beyond the capacity to feed this world population, and that survival will see an increase in wars, invasions and migration surges as the starving strive to survive.

We have the means to avert this peril, but not the will. Genetically modified crops can increase output and reduce pest wastage, but this is rejected by many countries - including the European block - on disputed safety grounds - and resistance to change. As a result, progress in food production increases are limited.

Whatever we decide on a balanced population will probably not be under our control. If the scientists are right - and we enter a period of world famine that armada of migrant boats entering our waters will become an avalanche.

We are a civilized people. The prospect of our navy sinking boats and leaving desperate people to drown would be abhorrent. We simply have to make the changes that are needed to accommodate more people - and that probably means nuclear as well as solar, wind and wave power generation to drive the conversion of salt water to fresh,the adoption of GM crops to give greater yields - and more use of the " vertical village " methods to house people.

Half a century ago the slogan for this country was " populate or perish ". Half a century from now we need to be a clever country to survive in a world that is heading for a " standing room only " world population !