Population Growth and Inevitable Shortages

Sir: As one of the multitude of Victorians affected by a near-statewide power blackout on a day of forty-four-degree heat in January, I am angered by the misreporting of this dangerous event.

All sides of the media responded by fixing on the logistics of electricity generation. But the blackout was caused by excessive population growth. Australia has sufficient energy—however, due to the federal government’s increased immigration levels, Melbourne and Sydney are stuck with far too many people. It is beside the point whether we use coal-powered turbines, solar arrays, wind farms, or armies of pensioners pedalling dynamos—our urban infrastructure cannot cope with how population is being forced up.

Energy blackouts, dire water shortages, insufficient housing, squeezed medical services, congested schools, deteriorating public transport, cluttered freeways, and more are the inevitable future for Australia’s cities until there is change.

Christopher Heathcote
Keilor,…