Labor Urged To Define ‘Sustainable Population’

Labor urged to define 'sustainable population'

ABC NEWS
Posted Tue Jul 20, 2010 6:29am AEST

The Federal Opposition says the Government should nominate what it thinks a sustainable population is.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has made it clear that she is not in favour of the “big Australia” which was advocated by her predecessor Kevin Rudd.

But she says Labor's final strategy on population will not be finalised until early in the next term of government.

The Coalition says voters need more detail.

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop says the Coalition will set population growth caps if it wins the election.

But she says there is no indication Labor will do the same.

“What's missing from Labor's policy on sustainable population is what they actually mean by sustainable population,” she said.

“It's a phrase that's been trotted out all the time. Tony Burke was the Minister for Population, he's now the Minister for Sustainable Population, but his brief is exactly the same.”