NSW’s population hits eight million people in record time
SHE’S not just a one-in-eight-million baby — she’s the best birthday present. Newborn Poppy Carrick is most probably NSW’s eight millionth resident, according to demographers. POLL: Are we growing too fast?
NSW
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When Anna Carrick was born on September 22, 1988, NSW’s population was 5.6 million.
Yesterday Ms Carrick gave birth, on her birthday, to her daughter Poppy — the day the demographers at the NSW Department of Planning calculated NSW’s population hit eight million.
Poppy was born, weighting 3.1kg, at 6.47am, at the Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick into a raging debate about the state’s, and Australia’s, population growth.
Statistically, Poppy is in a minority. Overseas migration accounted for 80 per cent of the increase in the NSW population last year.
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Population growth, the role immigration plays in it, the way it affects everyday life, and building the infrastructure and the homes to accommodate it, are colouring every level of politics.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott is calling for cuts to immigration until infrastructure in Sydney and Melbourne catches up.
Entrepreneur Dick Smith says our “way of life” is under threat from a booming population. Former NSW premier Bob Carr warns of “the conversion of Australia’s east coast to one of towers”.
But the Reserve Bank, leading political figures and business titans warn the naysayers rapid population growth is vital to a growing economy.
Shopping centre billionaire Frank Lowy last week condemned Australia’s migration and “big population” critics and urged the country to embrace an “ambitious migration program”.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last week that overseas migration being the biggest strain on Australia’s infrastructure is a pervasive myth and that migration provided critically needed skills.
It took 15 years — from 1993 to 2008 — for the NSW population to climb from six million to seven million. It has only taken 10 years for NSW to go from seven million to eight million.
Mr Morrison has said he is considering rewarding migrants who move to regional areas or changing visa requirements to encourage new arrivals out of the major cities such as Sydney.
Like many mothers who grew up in Sydney, Ms Carrick, who lives in a Paddington terrace house with her husband Andrew, 36, and son Louis, 2, is raising her children in a home smaller than what she grew up in.
Planning experts say this trend is likely to continue as more move into apartments.
“When this adorable newborn turns 18, Sydney and NSW will be a very different place,” NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said yesterday.
“When our eight millionth resident reaches the age of 18 she will be living in a NSW that is home to about 10 million people.
“She will most likely be living in an apartment close to where she works or studies.”
The NSW Department of Planning Population Insights team calculated NSW reaching its eighth million person yesterday using projections on Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Since March 2018, demographers estimate NSW has gained 10 people every hour.
Professor Peter Phibbs, head of Urban and Regional Planning and Policy at the University of Sydney, said 2036 will see more inner-city style terrace houses built in Sydney suburbs such as Pennant Hills.