Queensland councillors have been urged to demand immigration cuts in order to preserve the "Australian way of life".

Former NSW premier Bob Carr today led calls for a national policy on population growth, saying measures needed to be taken to save Queensland's coastline environment from further damage.

Speaking at the Local Government and Infrastructure Planning Symposium in Brisbane today, Mr Carr said Australia's population needed to be "stabilised".

The population in South-East Queensland is expected to increase from 2.8 million to 4.4 million people by 2031.

Mr Carr told local councillors it was their responsibility to lobby the federal government to cap Australia's population at 28 million.