Recent developments in population policy in Australia: the demographic setting

The major parties are moving away from an exclusive pre-occupation with immigration to a broader focus on population policy and the Minister for Immigration has expressed an implicit preference for a population of 23 million. The contributions in this section of People and Place document his concerns together with those of the shadow Minister. They also provide demographic analyses which show that the Minister's goal will be hard to achieve. This is largely because of the exceptionally high migration of the Hawke years.