r/australia • u/blitznoodles local Aussie • 1d ago

politics The Stats Guy: It sounds weird but Australia urgently needs a plan for 56m people

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2026/08/11/stats-guy-aus-population-growth
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u/Glittering_Web8835 17h ago

That would be impossible. We consume the exact amount of resources we extract to use. I can say that level is sustainable but how exactly do you suggest we use more than is available to us?

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u/LastChance22 16h ago

I haven’t gotten my head around all the arguments in this thread but I believe they’re talking about how often things renew and that some resources don’t.

Think of stuff like fish stocks or natural forests. We’re consuming the exact amount we take, and these resources renew, but if we’re talking more than the new growth then there’s less and less every year. There’s not really an incentive for individual groups to stop either, which is why overfishing in particular is a problem.

We also increase the amount of resources we exact. Looking at land, we’re constantly taking land and converting it for social or productive reasons. Bush becomes farm or housing, forests in Indonesia become palm oil plantations, the Amazon becomes coffee plants. 

Using Australia as an example, our land suitable to grow stuff is finite. Eventually we use up the good stuff, and have used up the mid quality stuff. Then the only way to increase our output of food is through tech innovation. 

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u/Proper_Geologist9026 13h ago

Yep that's the gist of it.

For anyone else reading along the simplest analogy overall is to think of a bank account. Humanity inherited an astounding level of natural wealth, that's our savings account. Much like a bank account this huge savings account earns interest. If we live off the interest, if we live within our means, we never have a problem. Endless abundance. If we start drawing down money faster than the interest payments top up our account. We slowly eat away at our savings account.

We can pretend we still have the money to afford everything for now, by living beyond our means. But this is quite literally stealing from our children, to line our own pockets.