Journalist George Megalogenis and conservationist Professor Ian Lowe have their own ideas on whether Australia, the 'big country', is in fact big enough.

Broadcast date: Friday 10 August 2012

Is Australia, the so-called 'big country', now big enough? Current expectations are that by the middle of this century there will be 35 million people living here.

So how should Australia's population growth be managed?

George Megalogenis and Ian Lowe have looked at the same data and drawn different conclusions.

George is a writer for The Australian newspaper and a believer in a big Australia. He's the son of hard working migrants and he sees how a strong migration program has kept Australia young, dynamic and rich.

Ian Lowe is the president of the Australian Conservation Foundation and says he can't help but see that our big cities aren't coping too well. And that ultimately, all this growth will be environmentally ruinous unless we cut back our consumption.

This debate was recorded at the 2012 Byron Bay Writers' Festival in a open-air marquee with a live audience.

Thanks to Byron Bay Writers' Festival, and to Southern Cross University.

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