One of the issues gaining momentum in this election is population and the need to cut immigration and birth rates to protect living standards. The politicians have been talking about it, and then Dick Smith’s doco last week came out and gave people even more reason to argue for an immigration plan, fearing for their future well-being.

Well the way I see it, it’s just another fear-driven campaign to win votes by scaring people. Yet another fear campaign.

There is no better way to scare the hell out of people than by painting a future which challenges their way of life… the Australian way. Claims of running out of land, of not being able to feed ourselves, of not having a backyard for the kids.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s and the same claims were being made then. What happened? We ended up with a global glut of food.

The population debate does sound scary when you hear some of the figures that are being thrown around. Australia grew by 432,000 people last year, 64% of it from immigration. Life expectancy is longer and birthrates are increasing because of the baby bonus.

But let’s look at some other figures. Australia has one of the lowest population densities in the world. Forget the deserts, in terms of arable land that is agriculturally productive, our nation-wide density is 46 people per square kilometre. Compare this to 837 people per sq km in the UK, 332 in France, 163 in the US and 2570 in Japan.

But what about the cities? They’re overcrowded, bursting at the seams and destroying our access to services, aren’t they?

Look at our two biggest cities: Sydney’s population density is 2,058 people per sq km and Melbourne 1,566 per sq km. Well if you lived in London, you’d share your square kilometer with 4,832 other people, or 6,814 in Singapore, or 10,500 in New York, or 14,400 in Tokyo. All of which are cities that function pretty well. So why do we have a problem?

I’m not arguing that population increase isn’t going to present a problem to Australia, because it will. More people obviously puts more pressure on services and infrastructure.

But my point is that the solution is not in putting a cap on immigration. The solution is forcing our Governments to get their act together and fulfill their responsibilities, which is to plan for population increase and provide the infrastructure to handle it.

Our Federal and State Governments need an almighty kick up the backside to do their job. To provide the infrastructure which we pay our taxes for them to provide. It’s that simple.

If you have a footy match with a few hopeless umpires, you don’t go and scrap the whole game. You get your umpires to do a better job.

Two things are important to know when talking about population. Firstly, we are not overpopulated or over our limit. Second of all, immigration is vital for Australia’s future. Canning immigration is what will really hurt your future security.

Here are some of the consequences of reducing immigration:

• Pensions may need to be cut. Because of the ageing population, there will not be enough tax-paying people in the workforce to us.

• Drop in housing prices. As demand goes down, prices could drop by as much as 20 or 30%. Great for buyers, terrible for home-owners.

• Labour shortages will force industry to slow down. A slower economy means a jump in unemployment.

The reality is being swept under the carpet because our Government knows it has shirked its responsibility to deal with society’s needs. Dick Smith’s doco pointed out that there is no plan to deal with Australia’s growing population. That’s exactly the point. There needs to be better management in Government, better plans, and better infrastructure in place to accommodate population increases.

Cutting the source of population doesn’t make sense. It’s the easy way out, and it’s a vote-winner, but it’s a strategy with huge ripple effects that will genuinely hurt your future.

To migrate to Australia you need money or a skill. I would have no problem in adding a destination to the criteria to ease the strain on Sydney and Melbourne. So people who want to move here come with money, a skill and live in Junee, or Bendigo or Bathurst or wherever we’d like them to.

One of the only valid points in the argument for a cap on immigration is the brain drain effect, where Australia is stealing skilled labour, particularly in medicine, from developing countries. Again, the fact that we need to be stealing educated people from other countries points to a shortfall in Government and their training policies.

So don’t be fooled by a fear campaign. Don’t get sucked in to believing your or your kids’ futures depend on closing our borders. How can Australia, with a population that’s tiny on the world scale, be struggling with population issues?

It’s time to look at the facts and point the finger at our leaders, the ones in charge of providing for a growing population.