AWCEM

Space.  What about all the space we have in Australia?
Reply - The arable landmass of Australia is no bigger than the landmass of Norway, Sweden and Finland combined.  These 3 countries have a combined population of 18-19 million.  Australia already has more than 21 million people and this is increasing rapidly.

Personal Freedom.  What about the freedom of our citizens to decide how many children they want to have?
Reply - If our population keeps increasing the way it does now - especially in our larger towns and cities - we will experience an even more rapid decline our quality of life.  We hope that everyone can see that this would make nobody happy; not us; not our friends and not our children when they grow up. And that it would be much better if we decided to do something voluntarily rather than under government pressure.

Religion.  What about religious reasons for having the children that we are blessed with, without doing any family planning or using birth control?
Reply - That is a choice that everyone must make for themselves, however if we believe that God has created this beautiful world, shouldn’t we look after that world and keep it beautiful instead of destroying it with pollution and overdevelopment as a result of overpopulation?

Boat People.  What about boat people?
Reply - If they are true 'refugees' i.e. their or their family's life or safety are in danger if they stay in their own countries, of course we must take them in - at least until they can safely go back to their own countries. But I believe that all the others should go through the ordinary channels of immigration as all other people have to do and not 'jump the queue' by getting on a boat and making us feel so guilty that we allow them in anyway, probably opening a floodgate by setting such an example.

Economy.  What effect will zero, or zero minus will have on the economy?
Reply - A shrinking population will definitely have an effect on the economy, although many other factors contribute. However, as - unfortunately - the population increase will not stop from one day to another, adjustments can be made over time.  We will have to re-structure the economy and change from a consumer society to a service-, care-, tourist - and maintenance oriented society.

Children's Future.  What if I really, really adore children?
Reply - In many parts of the world there are children being abandoned every day. Better structures can be set up to give these children adoptive parents. With good structures in place, the children can be placed early in life, so they have better chances of developing into happy human beings.

Ageing Population.  What about the aging of the population.  If there is a decreasing birthrate, won’t the tax burden be too heavy on the people in the workforce.?
Reply - There will initially be an added burden to the taxpayer.  However, here again the bottom line applies:
a) sooner or later we will have to stop population and it might as well be sooner;
b) if the economy gets restructured so that it is not all growth and profit-based, then measures can be taken to avoid taxing the working population substantially more;
c) money can be brough in from other sources eg: at the moment, not all money paid towards road issue (car registrations etc.), is actually put into the road kitty, so in the same way extra money can be taken from another portfolio and put into the superannuation/pension kitty.

We are quickly running out of time , but it is not too late yet!