ICLEI Oceania

An issues paper and three discussion papers released by the Federal Sustainable Population Minister Tony Burke on developing a sustainable population policy for Australia will be a critical issue for Local Government which will be most affected by poorly planned and managed growth.

This discussion paper will mark the start of public consultation on the development of a sustainable population policy due at the end of March 2011. This will lead to a Sustainable Population Policy and a set of key sustainability indicators to allow measurement of progress towards sustainability.

CEO of ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) - Oceania Bill Forrest was a member on the sustainable development panel chaired by former NSW Premier Bob Carr.  Bill described the sustainable development discussion paper as a cautionary tale - looking at the upsides and downsides of growth.

"Our panel was particularly concerned about our incapacity to deal with unacceptable environment impacts, congestion, infrastructure maintenance, adequate services and affordable housing in circumstances of high population growth", Bill said. "Also the link between economic growth per capita and population growth was tenuous when you looked around the world. Some countries with less population growth have higher per capita GDP growth than Australia and some countries with higher population growth have lower per capita GDP growth than Australia" Mr Forrest said.

The two other panels were chaired by Professor Graeme Hugo from the University of Adelaide and Ms. Heather Ridout from the Australian Industry Group, and were more positive about our capacity to plan for and effectively manage population growth into the future. Local government was represented on all 3 panels.

"This is a debate that Local Government has a very keen interest in, as we are left to manage many of the consequences of poorly planned and managed growth"' Mr Forrest said. "From the cradle to the grave - early childhood services to aged care, the quality and sustainability of our built and natural environment.

The sustainable development panel proposed a series of sustainability indicators or benchmarks that should be met as a precursor to sustaining high levels of population growth. Other panels looked at ways and means to better manage growth including better urban planning and more investment in infrastructure.

The Federal Government has the challenge to create the environment for engaging and meaningful dialogue on a very complex issue and local government views are heard.

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability is an international, not-for-profit association of local governments and local government organisations that have made a commitment to sustainable development.  ICLEI's growing membership is comprised of 1300 cities, towns, counties and their associations, in 66 countries worldwide. The ICLEI head office is in Bonn, Germany and ICLEI Oceania head office is hosted by the City of Melbourne and was established in 1999.