The Business Council of Australia has made a useful contribution to the national population debate through supporting the Treasury-projected population of 36 million in 2050 as “a moderate and sensible guide to what is likely to be needed to meet Australia’s long-term goals.” See the Business Council’s submission to the Commonwealth Government:
Moderate Population Growth the Best Path to Prosperity
The President of the Business Council Graham Bradley noted:
“With an ageing and shrinking workforce, low population growth will render us a branch office economy of the region with limited ability to support health, education, aged care and welfare services, or to pay for the infrastructure we need.
The submission highlights that without moderate population growth the ageing of the workforce will see the number of people of working age to each Australian aged 65 or over slump from 5 to 2.7 by 2050.
“The Australian workforce needs more people, not less, at a time when large numbers of Australians are reaching retirement age.”
A larger domestic market would compensate somewhat for the disadvantages our local businesses suffer because they are more remote from world markets than businesses in other countries. With a larger domestic market, Australian businesses would achieve greater economies of scale and improve their productivity levels. The adverse economic implications of Australia’s remoteness and population size have been reasonably well explored by the Australian Treasury and Productivity Commission. See for example:
Queensland Economy Watch 