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A 'Sustainable' Population? - Key Policy Issues
Roundtable proceedings
The Commission held a roundtable on A 'Sustainable' Population? - Key Policy Issues, at Old Parliament House in Canberra on 21-22 March 2011.
Participants included government officials, academics, consultants and representatives of non-government organisations. Keynote addresses were presented by Professor Barry Chiswick from the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, George Washington University, and Distinguished Professor Richard Arnott from the University of California, Riverside.
The Commission is grateful to the speakers, discussants, participants and others whose contributions made the roundtable such a valuable exercise.
Download the roundtable proceedings
- A 'Sustainable' Population? - Key Policy Issues proceedings (PDF - 3800 Kb)
- A 'Sustainable' Population? - Key Policy Issues proceedings by chapter (Word/Zip - 4028 Kb)
- Download by chapter
- Media release
Foreword
- Preliminaries (PDF - 139 Kb)
Cover, Copyright,and Table of Contents - Chapter 1 Introduction (PDF - 92 Kb)
- Chapter 2 The determinants of Australia's future demography (PDF - 73 Kb)
- General discussion (PDF - 23 Kb)
Session 1 - Population, productivity and participation
- Chapter 3 Immigration: high-skilled versus low-skilled labour? (PDF - 78 Kb)
- Chapter 4 Economic effects of population growth and ageing in Australia (PDF - 134 Kb)
- Chapter 5 Population growth and the resources boom (PDF - 218 Kb)
- General discussion (PDF - 27 Kb)
Session 2 - Limits to population growth?
- Chapter 6 Planning sustainable cities in the 21st century (PDF - 113 Kb)
- Discussant comments by John Daley (PDF - 26 Kb)
- Discussant comments by Kevin O'Connor (PDF - 25 Kb)
- Chapter 7 Dealing with congestion efficiently (PDF - 116 Kb)
- Discussant comments by Henry Ergas (PDF - 48 Kb)
- Chapter 8 Is decentralisation the answer? (PDF - 782 Kb)
- Discussant comments by Larry Cook (PDF - 31 Kb)
- Chapter 9 Environmental and resource constraints: myth or reality? (PDF - 27 Kb)
- Discussant comments by Harry Clarke (PDF - 43 Kb)
- General discussion (PDF - 31 Kb)
Session 3 - Social impacts of migration
- Chapter 10 Immigration and public opinion (PDF - 123 Kb)
- Chapter 11 Selection, migration and integration: why multiculturalism works in Australia (and fails in Europe) (PDF - 60 Kb)
- Discussant comments by Max Corden (PDF - 33 Kb)
- General discussion (PDF - 21 Kb)
Session 4 - Panel discussion:implications for policy directions
Dinner address
- Chapter 12 The value of migration to Australia (PDF - 31 Kb)
- Chapter 13 Background paper (PDF - 217 Kb)
Appendicies
In March 2011, the Productivity Commission hosted a roundtable on the theme A ‘Sustainable’ Population? - Key Policy Issues. The proceedings are being released to enable public access to the papers and discussion, and insights that emerged.
In his opening remarks,Productivity Commission Chairman, Gary Banks observed that recent debate about a 'sustainable' population has not always been well-informed. He noted the importance of clarifying the policy objectives and understanding the forces at work in assessing policy options. Papers presented at the Roundtable cover the key economic, environmental and social dimensions of population and immigration growth.
Roundtable participants included senior government officials, academics, consultants and representatives of non-government organisations. Keynote addresses were presented by Professor Richard Arnott (University of California)and Professor Barry Chiswick (George Washington University).
The publication complements other work by the Productivity Commission on the impact of population growth and immigration, including a Commission Research Paper Population and Migration:Understanding the Numbers, released in December 2010.
Background information
Patrick Jomini (Assistant Commissioner) 03 9653 2176
Requests for comment / other
02 6240 3330 / media@pc.gov.au
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This publication is only available online.
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