Victoria's economic pie may be getting bigger, but don't think that means you are getting a larger slice. There's a common denominator to the various political debates raging around the country over infrastructure, health, education, housing and the economy: population growth.

It underpins the infrastructure debate because cities like Melbourne - swelling by an average of about 200 people a day for the past decade - are becoming ever more clogged with people. Federal and state governments now face enormous pressure to expand road and rail access so that people can get to work and home to their families within a reasonable time frame.

Illustration: John Spooner

It underpins the health debate because our hospitals, particularly in growth areas to the west, are struggling to cope with booming demand and spiralling costs. Late last month, for example, The Age reported claims from nurses that women are giving birth in unsafe rooms and at least one infant has been resuscitated in a corridor at the Mercy Hospital in Werribee because of a lack of resources. Or in November last year, Victoria's Auditor-General warned that Victoria's 87 public hospitals face annual deficits of more than $700 million, with some unable to pay their bills.

It underpins the education debate, with state schools struggling to cope with run down facilities and expanding class sizes. As research prepared by the Grattan Institute for Fairfax Media found, up to 220 new schools need to be built in Victoria in the next decade to absorb and 190,000 extra students.