Good outcomes in planning, housing and the environment are linked to getting population policy right. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Population is "the everything issue". It affects all aspects of public policy and our daily lives. It is essential to get population policy right if we are to achieve critical public policy outcomes like secure jobs, affordable housing, better planning and a sustainable environment.

That is not to say that it is the only reform required in order to achieve these outcomes, but trying to achieve these goals while engineering record population growth is like walking up a down escalator.

From a population of 19 million in 2000, Australia has grown to reach nearly 25 million today. That is nearly 20 years earlier than the official prediction made by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2000. We’ve added an extra 6 million people in quick time, or around 30 per cent. Incredibly, that’s more than the entire population of Sydney.

Why is this extraordinary growth happening? The fundamental reason is the ramping up of Australia’s annual permanent immigration intake from the 20th century average of 70,000, to around 200,000 a year since 2000.