Sunday 7 April 2013

State's policy push on population stalls

SOUTH Australia's Labor government abandoned its promise to create a population policy in "co-ordination" with the federal government in the weeks after Julia Gillard deposed Kevin Rudd and torpedoed his "big Australia" push.

The development of a population platform for South Australia was launched in association with a policy being formulated by federal Labor in 2010, with minister Tom Koutsantonis charged with putting a final proposal to cabinet by the middle of 2011.

He told parliament that the national policy would "inform, and be informed by, South Australia's revised policy".

But although Population Minister Tony Burke released a national strategy in May 2011 -- without a target -- the promised South Australian review and policy never materialised.

Mr Koutsantonis yesterday refused to comment on whether his review was ever completed, or if a policy position was ever presented to cabinet for approval.

Premier Jay Weatherill also did not answer those questions, but in a statement said the "government's commitment to create a population policy was made under the former (Labor) premier".

"My focus is on where population growth is directed within South Australia and how we can live sustainably," he said.

"In particular, we are encouraging a substantial increase in population in the CBD and in regional towns."

He said that since taking over the premiership from Mike Rann in 2011, he had identified that "migration is a key driver of economic growth" and he was "actively pursuing South Australia's fair share of the migration intake".

This follows revelations last week in The Australian that the state Labor government was among the biggest users of the 457 visa program that Julia Gillard has vowed to reform because of employer "rorts".

The Premier yesterday said South Australia's state strategic plan had set a population target of two million by 2050, and the state had already met an interim target of 1.64 million people by 2014.

Ms Gillard has been opposed to any population policy being driven by a single, arbitrary number. Mr Rudd, when he was prime minister, said he believed in a "big Australia" but the government's position changed when Ms Gillard took over in June 2010.

The Coalition's population policy includes a target of 29 million by 2050.

Mr Koutsantonis was to have appointed a steering group and a team of population experts to assist his review. The state's last detailed policy on population, Prosperity Through People, was published in 2004, and predicted a population decline to 2030 because of falling fertility rates, the ageing population and SA's low share of international migration.

Opposition economic development spokesman Martin Hamilton-Smith said the state's population only grew by 1 per cent last year and questioned whether SA Labor's policy was rebuffed by Ms Gillard.

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