People Policy: Australia's Population Choices

Front Cover
UNSW Press, 1996 - Social Science - 347 pages
This lively and readable contribution to the optical debate on Australia's population and immigration policy (or lack of it) comes from one of the country's best known and most authoritative environmental writers. People Policy contains a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary, informative review of the background to, studies on and approaches to population policy. It draws heavily on submissions to the House of Representatives' committee of inquiry into Australia's population (the Jones Inquiry), which the author served as a consultant. Ever assertive and controversial, yet backing up his points with facts and figures, Doug Cocks puts the case for stabilising Australia's population through powerful arguments drawn from environmental, ecological, economic, social and quality-of-life considerations, balancing his personal views by outlining the full range of cases to be made and choices facing the country. People Policy is for general readers with environmental, green, political and social interests relating to human population studies; it has a glossary of demographic terms to assist lay readers. Being fully referenced with an extensive bibliography, it is also useful for students taking demography, population studies, population & human resources, and human ecology units in Geography, Environmental Studies, Demography, Population Studies, Social Policy, and Urban and Regional Planning programs. It will also interest demographers, planners and policymakers dealing with migration, social and economic development, and urban and regional planning.

From inside the book

Contents

AUSTRALIAS DEMOGRAPHIC CHOICES
9
ECONOMIC ARGUMENTS ABOUT POPULATION SIZE
45
RESOURCE AVAILABILITY ARGUMENTS ABOUT POPULATION SIZE
73
Notions of maximum population Maximum resourcelimited
95
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ARGUMENTS ABOUT POPULATION SIZE
104
Some startingpoints The theory of environmental quality City
123
approaches Key points in environmental arguments
132
Some theory Some specific matters for concern Trends in
141
The world population situation and its relevance to Australia Global
164
OVERVIEW OF ARGUMENTS ABOUT POPULATION SIZE
180
OPTIONS FOR AN AUSTRALIAN POPULATION POLICY
190
The societyenvironmenteconomy triangle Broad options for
220
Ecologically sustainable development Settlement policy and regional
248
200 years
306
JONES INQUIRY SUBMISSIONS
333
Copyright

INTERNATIONAL ARGUMENTS ABOUT AUSTRALIAS POPULATION SIZE
150

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information