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NYU Sydney Instructor Featured on Australian Radio

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NYU Sydney Instructor Petronella Vaarzon-Morel was recently featured in an Australian radio program. Ms. Vaarzon-Morel talks about her work in the Central Australian town of Willowra, where locals are archiving their ancestral songlines on maps to ensure their survival.

When elders in the Central Australian community of Willowra get lost in the bush, they don’t reach for a map, they start singing a song. Songlines, as they’re known, help people in the remote town find water, tell stories, and navigate through space. In recent times though, these songs had started to be forgotten, so the people in the town have taken it upon themselves to start archiving them.

Hear more about the project on the ABC radio PM. 

NYU Sydney Conversations Podcast Chats with Instructor Adam Gall

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In a special edition of NYU Sydney’s Conversations Podcast from last term, the then semester host and current Gallatin junior Duncan Lemieux sat down with Dr. Adam Gall, NYU Sydney’s instructor of Environmental History. Dr. Gall’s background is in cultural studies, having been awarded a PhD from the University of Sydney department of gender studies. Gall says that almost 10 years of teaching introductory feminist class with the department afforded him the opportunity to speak daily with students in the frontline in these spaces.

Gall speaks to the evolution of Sydney’s own local Mardi Gras festival, starting with the much loved Fair Day, which now has a real focus on Rainbow Families. Gall walks us through the catalysts for the movement in Sydney and the reaction to changes in the United States, the need for a movement in solidarity and the mirroring police brutality.

He reveals the societal changes, highlighted by corporate sponsorship of the event and the regular inclusion of police floats. Duncan then walks with Dr. Gall through the YES vote, and the postal survey, which Gall says was really seen as an imposition whereby citizens were seen as campaigning for legitimacy. Dr. Gall continues to discuss the three main drivers that meant Australia was late to join the international conversation regarding same sex marriage.

The podcast draws to a close with a focus about where the discussion has headed. Gall says that the focus is now really about what’s going on in schools and with young people, particularly in regard to radical gender theory, and the institutional response to bullying.

Conservatives, he says, have latched on to this in a new ideological front. This is, he says, similar to other clashes that occur with everyday sexual education globally.

Have a listen to the podcast here.

NYU Sydney Pacific World History Instructor Alexander Cameron-Smith on his New Book

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My new book, A Doctor Across Borders: Raphael Cilento and Public Health from Empire to the United Nations (Canberra: ANU Press, 2019), took a long time to emerge.

Years ago I submitted the manuscript to several university presses and independent academic publishers. They all turned it down, either because the subject matter didn’t align with their priorities or because they needed me to obtain a grant to cover publication costs. To be honest, I gave up on trying to publish it and focused on other things until a chance encounter with an encouraging Dr. Christine Winter at the University of Sydney reignited my efforts. I submitted a proposal to Australian National University Press and after many revisions it has now been published. I think it’s a good reminder of what can happen when we stay connected as you never know where encouragement might come from.

My book follows the career of Sir Raphael Cilento, an Australian public health official who worked in Queensland, New Guinea, and British Malaya between 1918 and 1950. He also engaged enthusiastically with international health programmes in the Pacific through the League of Nations Health Organization and even joined the United Nations Secretariat in the fields of refugee relief and international social welfare projects.

The book is not a traditional biography. It doesn’t survey Cilento’s whole life, nor is it comprehensive in the period it covers. When I started working on it, the project lay at the intersection of a number of emerging fields of historical research. On the one hand I was interested in the burgeoning field of transnational history, which aspired to explore the networked connections that grow and shift between national spaces.

On the other, my work reflected a renewed interest in using individual lives to capture transnational dynamics of history. Individual migrants, businessmen, officials, and others, thus become case studies for the movement of ideas and practices across borders.

In studying Cilento, therefore, my book uses an individual career to explore Australia’s colonial connections to the Pacific Islands; its engagement with internationalism and international organizations; and the way these Pacific relations informed ideas and practices concerning health, race, and nationhood in the first half of the twentieth century.

Article by NYU Sydney Pacific World History Instructor Alexander Cameron-Smith

NYU Sydney Hosts MLK Scholars

Posted on by Martha J Bekink

This March, NYU Sydney proudly hosted the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholars Program Travel Colloquium.

A group of 30 students from across all undergraduate divisions of NYU were accompanied by staff and faculty as they embarked on an intensive five days of education, discovery and service. This all-University scholars program was initially proposed by NYU’s Association of Black Faculty in 1986 with the first group of Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholars beginning their studies in 1987. The program brings together students with a demonstrated commitment to further the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through excellence in academic achievement and distinguished leadership and community service.

The week officially began on Monday March 18 with a Welcome to Country performed by esteemed Aboriginal Elder and representative of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Uncle Charles “Chikka” Madden. Madden welcomed the group to Gadigal land and discussed his own life and Aboriginal life and culture more broadly. The Welcome to Country was followed by a brief introduction and orientation from the NYU Sydney team before the scholars participated in their first academic lecture of the week.

Facilitated by Dr. Laura McLauchlan, this class served to provide the platform of information by which learning throughout the week would be built upon. During this session the scholars explored the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture; the relationship between Australian settler culture and Aboriginal Australians; Australia’s experience of migration and multiculturalism; Australians’ relationship with their environment; and Australians’ sense of national identity. After lunch at Science House the group made their way to Customs House at Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour. At Customs House the scholars met with their walking tour guide and spent the next two hours walking around the city and learning about the economic and social forces that shaped modern Sydney. This tour included commentary from above a scale model of Sydney’s Central Business District and surrounding area.

The second day began with a tour of the First Australians Gallery at the Australian Museum. This tour was facilitated by a Wiradjuri woman and it gave students a brief but comprehensive exposure to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture, customs and tradition. At Science House, Australian Historian and NYU Sydney instructor Justine Greenwood’s class examined immigration and multiculturalism in Australia. The day concluded with a visit to the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence. At NCIE the group learned about the history of the organization, some of their current challenges and the services they provide to the local Indigenous community. A highlight of this visit was the opportunity to meet with Wiradjuri woman and NCIE Aunty-in-Residence Glendra Stubbs.

Stubbs serves as a mentor for Indigenous young people from across Australia that are invited to stay at NCIE. Stubbs has worked with a number of state and national bodies including: as an Aboriginal Engagement Advisor for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the National Stolen Generations Alliance, and Metro Migrant Resource Centre. She is also a member of the advisory group of the NSW Government child protection and wellbeing program. Stubbs led the group to the NCIE child care center where she discussed her own lived experiences as an Indigenous person growing up in Australia as well as the experiences of members of Australia’s Stolen Generation.

A special treat was arranged for the scholars on their third day in Sydney. On the way to the Blue Mountains a quick stop was made at the Featherdale Wildlife Park. At Featherdale, the students fed kangaroos breakfast and watched with amazement as koalas, dingos and wombats woke for the day. Following their trip to the wildlife park the group made their way to the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains to hike and learn about the region. The area is the traditional home of the Darug and Gundungarra peoples and for decades this location has been a “must see” for visitors to Sydney.

The Blue Mountains are home to 400 species of animals and some of Australia’s most breathtaking landscape. Charles Darwin crossed the Blue Mountains in 1836 and the students walked along the track that carries his name. At the conclusion of the hike the group met National Parks and Wildlife Service Aboriginal Discovery Ranger, Yamindirra Newton and learned about his experiences as sn Indigenous elder living in the region.

On day 4, Drs. McLauchlan and Greenwood co-facilitated a class that served as an opportunity for the group to reflect on their experiences thus far. The fifth and final day of the program was the day of service. The group travelled to Bradley’s Head on Sydney’s lower north shore to participate in a weeding project to protect the habitat of the red-crowned toadlet. The red- crowned toadlet is only found in the Sydney region and the group was charged with protecting its habitat by identifying and disposing of invasiveexotic weed species.

The MLK Jr Scholars Colloquium was a fantastic week in Sydney and the NYU Sydney team cannot wait to host future special programs.

Article by Marcus Neeld.
Images: MLK Scholar Kori Selwyn Vernon

NYU Sydney Hosts China Matters Debate

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In the decade since the Global Financial Crisis, Australia’s engagement with the People’s Republic of China has continued to expand and while the commercial relationship is complimentary and robust, public discourse regarding political interference and security concerns continue to run counter to this unfettered optimism.

The Australian public has more recently been exposed to headlines regarding visa cancellations for academics attempting to complete field research in Xinjiang; concerns of scientific collaboration being too obscure and leading to gains for Beijing’s opaque security apparatus; and the detainment of Chongyu Feng, Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

It is against this backdrop that China Matters hosted its 6thYoung Professional debate. The topic, ‘Does the People’s Republic of China pose a threat to academic freedom in Australia?’

China Matters is a local think tank, established to stimulate a realistic and nuanced discussion of the PRC among Australian business, government and the security establishment, and to advance sound policy. Part of the organization’s efforts rest in bringing young professionals into the discussion. Each year, China Matters hosts youth policy forums, debates, and publishes articles from young China watchers.

On December 5, 2018, NYU Sydney collaborated with China Matters by hosting the 6th debate in the series. These debates bring together two young professionals and two special guests to debate topics that are key to the Australia-China relationship. The format is geared at providing stimulating discussion that spans generations, levels of experience, backgrounds and competencies.

The two special guest debaters for the evening were Dr Jane Golley, Acting Director, Australian Centre on China in the World, ANU, and Ms Geraldine Doogue AO, ABC Broadcaster. The young professionals participants were Ms Simone van Nieuwenhuizen, Project and Research Officer, Australia-China Relations Institute, and Ms Belinda McEniery, Health Economics Associate, Johnson & Johnson. The debate was moderated by Mr Dirk Van der Kley, PhD Candidate, ANU.

The debate started strong with Dr. Golley insisting that anecdote and statistics play a key role in separating fact from fiction. Golley revealed five separate instances in detail regarding visa and book publication deal cancellations, and anecdotes of joint collaboration for publication in journals whereby content had been altered in the editing process in order to reach publishers’ requests for a softer tone. The punchline– they were all personal anecdotes.

Simone van Nieuwenhuizen from the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS did well to rebut these points while simultaneously bringing to light more factual recounts regarding media stories of detained academics from her own institution. At the heart of her argument for the negative team was her insistence that there was no real threat, the academic relationship is strong and the media have led to a misrepresentation of relations.

Belinda McEniery, Health Economics Associate, Johnson & Johnson then discussed the topic from an economic and policy perspective, arguing that the PRC has so many policy levers that simply leave Australia too vulnerable. McEniery spoke more broadly of political interference citing recent cases in Federal politics to exhibit the breadth of the issue.

The final speaker was one of Australia’s most loved journalists, Ms Geraldine Doogue AO, ABC Broadcaster. Doogue again attempted to argue that public opinion had been too heavily tainted by media headlines. Doogue spoke of the impact of these developments on Chinese students studying in Australia, and argued that there are deeper aspects to the story that need more attention. She again rebutted the affirmative team by assuring the audience that our institutions are more robust than we might think. And this, she closed with, is the most important thing to remember when we are considering threats. Threats are only threats when we fail to mitigate them.

The event concluded with a robust Q&A where members of the audience were able to interact with the panel, seeking their expertise on the topics discussed. Once all questions had been fielded, the moderator, Louisa Bochner of China Matters asked the audience to vote for the winning team. The affirmative team of Dr Jane Golley and Belinda McEniery won with a count of 44-32.

After the event the crowd broke out into NYU Sydney’s Edgeworth David room for catering and refreshments. Sydney students and guests were able to talk to the panel one-to-one to discuss the debate in more detail.

NYU Sydney was also proud to host John McCarthy, Senior Advisor to Mitsubishi Materials Corporation in Tokyo, and the Chair of the Advisory Board of the Griffith Asia Institute; Stephen FitzGerald, adviser to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and Australia’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic of China; Jocelyn Chey, founding Director of the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University 2016-17; and Laurie Smith, member of the national board of the Australia China Business Council and Executive Director of International at Austrade 2011-2015.

Former NYU Sydney Student Presents Behavioral Research

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Former NYU Sydney student, Julia Moses recently presented at the 30th Annual Greater New York Conference on Behavioral Research at Fordham University.

Julia presented her research on Infant Studies of Language and Neurocognitive Development. The research is a result of working with Dr. Natalie Brito at Infant Studies of Language and Neurocognitive Development” (ISLAND lab). “The presentation was about how maternal anxiety may have an effect on 3 month old infants. I measured the blinks per minute of the baby during a recorded 5 minute play task with the mother and counted the number of blinks over the time period,” explained Julia. 

“Using the number of blinks as a measure of dopamine production in the infant, we can infer that the rate of blinks per minute is telling us about the baby’s internal state. Through surveys the mother took and counting the blinks, preliminary results have shown that mothers who feel less stressed in the moment correlate with higher blinks in the infant due to (inferred) higher dopamine production in the infant’s brain. ”

“This is very early on into our research so nothing is certain yet as we don’t have enough participants, we are hoping to continue with more studies to build on the research”.

NYU Sydney Students Visit Local Initiative with Global Equity Fellow

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On December 6, 2018, NYU Sydney’s Global Equity Fellow, Juliana Maia led a group of students to Summer Hill to visit the Four Brave Woman initiative.

Four Brave Woman is a project that works to empower refugees by providing a commercial kitchen and seating area for use as a restaurant. Refugees are invited to spend eight weeks at the location cooking for paying customers and managing daily operations.

Customers are invited to enjoy lunch or dinner six days a week. At the end of each eight week period the goal is for participants to gain enough experience and capital to establish their own business. Juliana and her friends were treated to a wonderful Iraqi meal followed by an opportunity to talk with their hosts and staff. During this conversation the students learned that the Four Brave Women initiative is receiving international recognition for its work and requests to sponsor similar initiatives in other parts of the globe. It was a great afternoon for our students and hands-on experiences are a great reminder of the value of the Global Equity Fellowship at NYU Sydney.

At NYU Sydney Global Equity Fellows are encouraged to provide opportunities for their peers
to not only explore individual identity but to also explore the lived experiences of individuals within the local community. By connecting with members of the Australian public, students can learn about the aspects of identity that are salient for people living in another part of the world. Opportunities for students to learn about the interplay between national identity and other aspects of social identity are characteristic of the invaluable learning that occurs when students study away.

NYU Sydney Anthropology Lecturer Petronella Vaarzon-Morel on Students Experiencing the Warmth of Walpiri Culture

Posted on by Martha J Bekink

The Warmth of a Walpiri Welcome

By Petronella Vaarzon-Morel, NYU Sydney Anthropology Lecturer

This September, students in the Anthropology of Indigenous Art and Anthropology classes were privileged to meet with Warlpiri cultural experts Selina Williams Napanangka and Julie Kitson Napaljarri from Willowra, an Indigenous community which is located 350 kilometres north-west of
Alice Springs in Central Australia.

NYU Sydney was recently honoured to host Warlpiri cultural experts Selina Williams Napanangka and Julie Kitson Napaljarri from Willowra. Selina and Julie were guests for two classes within a week on campus. The occasions brilliantly illustrated the opportunities afforded by the anthropology classes and the Sydney campus for meaningful cross- cultural exchanges between Indigenous Australians and NYU students.

Julie and Selina are both skilled artists and performers of the Warlpiri women’s yawalyu ceremonies, which celebrate their ancestral connections to country through song, dance, and body painting.

Both women are currently involved in two collaborative projects with NYU anthropology lecturer Petronella Vaarzon-Morel. The first is a cultural mapping project which involves traditional owners visiting their ancestral countries in the Lander Warlpiri Anmatyerr region and mapping ancestral tracks, sites and cultural heritage information. The second is a cultural returns project, an Australian Research Council Linkage project involving the Indigenous body the Central Land Council, and researchers from The University of Sydney and The University of Melbourne. The project has been running for three years and is near completion.

During this period the researchers have located large collections of Central Australian Indigenous cultural materials which are held in diverse public and private collections. Applying international best practice, material (primarily images and audio-visual ) has been digitised and reconnected with rightful Indigenous people.

The project has helped preserve Indigenous heritage, improve community access, safeguard at-risk materials, support intergenerational knowledge transfer, and provide a framework for the development of a repatriation policy. At the time of their visit to NYU Sydney, Julie and Selina were visiting archives in Sydney and Canberra for the project.

The theme of the Indigenous Art class for the week was Warlpiri and Anmayerr art. In addition to providing insights into the different Warlpiri modes of artistic practice, and providing feedback on the readings for the week, Julie and Selina taught students the basics of the Warlpiri traditional iconographic system. The iconography is employed in body painting, sand drawing and the contemporary Western Desert style of acrylic painting on canvas which has become renowned throughout the world.

In a fascinating cross-cultural exercise, students later viewed video clips made by Petronella of Julie and Selina providing their interpretations of works such as Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles in the American Masters Exhibition, which was on display next to the Indigenous Gallery.

Following their visit to Sydney, Julie and Selina visited the National Gallery in Canberra, where they expressed great pride in seeing Aboriginal art in the nation’s capital. Julie commented “it’s so amazing to see Aboriginal art displayed so beautifully here. The last time I came with you [Petronella] to Canberra in the late 1970s we hardly saw any Aboriginal art. It’s good to see the increased recognition of Aboriginal people in Australia.”

Julie and Selina joined students of the Anthropology class to view the virtual reality film Collisions, directed by Lynette Wallworth with Indigenous elder Nyarri Nyarri Morgan. The film, recounts Nyarri Nyarri Morgan’s recollections of his first contact with Europeans during the 1950s, and the fallout of the atomic bomb over his people, the Martu in the region known as the Pilbara in Western Australia. The viewing provided a great opportunity for the Warlpiri guest speakers to share their reflections on the violent history of settler colonisation of Australia and Indigenous responses. This in turn prompted exchanges. For example, one student spoke of the feelings the film stirred concerning the bombing of Japan, her homeland during the 2nd World War.

Julie told the students about the murder of her relatives during the Coniston Massacre, which took place in the Willowra region in 1928. Coniston is officially recognised as the last massacre of Aboriginal people in Australia. The students also heard excerpts from radio interviews with Aboriginal people including Julie’s son Dwayne Ross, sister Maisie Napaljarri, and also Petronella about the Massacre. The interviews were recorded during the recent Coniston Massacre memorial day, which was held at Yurrkuru, the place where the massacre began.

During this commemorative event Warlpiri spokespeople called for a National Remembrance Day to remember the victims of massacres of Indigenous people that have occurred throughout Australia. The exchange between the NYU students and Julie and Selina were respectful and relaxed, and they highlighted the importance of the recognition of Indigenous Australians, of the true history of Australia, and of reconciliation.

During the Anthropology class Selina and Julie instructed the students in Warlpiri kinship and classificatory or “skin” system. Each student received a skin name and had to work out how they were related to Julie and Selina. In learning about their kinship relationships, they also learnt about appropriate marriage partners and kinds of behaviors associated with different kinspersons. In illustrating the importance of the relational ontology which is foundational to Warlpiri society, the exercise facilitated understanding of different ways of being in the world. Selina later commented to Petronella, “the students were pretty quick in learning their skin names. They feel proud of them. They will have them forever and will take them back to their country and share the names and their experiences. If they want to come to central Australia, we would welcome them.”

Both students and Julie and Selina felt that there wasn’t enough time to share all they could and hoped that there will more opportunities for cross-cultural exchanges at NYU Sydney in the future.

NYU Sydney’s Mark Eels on Balancing the BRI

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This article comes to us from Mark Eels, NYU Sydney’s Operations & Communications Coordinator, and was originally published in Australia as a  China Matters Young Professionals Stance .

Balancing the BRI

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), formerly referred to as One Belt One Road or 一带一路, was a concept borne, on the one hand, to remedy structural inefficiencies, local debt and rampant overcapacity, and, on the other, as parallel trade architecture to counter the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and bolster the standing of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). ­

The BRI represents a latent microcosm of our larger engagement strategy with the PRC. However, Australia is yet to formally endorse the BRI. Moreover, domestic public opinion about Australia’s involvement is pessimistic. So are we at risk of missing the boat?

While BRI has announced five major goals of policy coordination, facility connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds, the cornerstone, at least for now, is infrastructure development. BHP Billiton’s BRI project database appraises investment related to power, railways, pipelines and transport as accounting for 70 percent of aggregate spending with the remainder related to new economic zones, industrial parks, refineries, plants and public buildings. Estimates for PRC investment ranging to as high as 8 trillion USD. As a result, project announcements revive a similar sentiment to that experienced during the PRC’s 2008 stimulus package, whereby capital largely flowed downstream to infrastructure projects, heavily reliant on Australian resources.

Major Australian ore producers Rio Tinto, BHP, and Fortescue are primed to benefit from this transcontinental appetite for infrastructure investment boasting  entrenched sectoral structural power, massive break even advantages and vessel roundtrip times around half that of Brazilian counterparts. Stubborn PRC domestic ore production is finally falling, with last month’s output the lowest for a non-winter period since 2008.

There are, however, major risks associated with BRI.

As Future Risk’s Tristan Kenderdine notes, BRI projects and international capacity cooperation behind them ‘cynically export China’s industrial policy, circumventing the established trade and investment architecture … As China domestically struggles to contain the local government debt built up, export of the investment-driven industrial model, which is what ICC [International Capacity Cooperation] represents, will inevitably export the lax banking standards and endogenous risk to other middle-income countries which do not have the financial infrastructure to survive a collapse.’ More bluntly, as he revealed to me in a novel manner ‘If you are exposed to China’s state capital then you are exposed to China’s local government debt and no one wants to know how that sausage is made’.

Peter Cai has demonstrated feasibility apprehensions with BRI projects. Cai quotes Andrew Collier, Managing Director of Orient Capital Research, ‘It is pretty clear that everyone is struggling to find decent projects. They know it’s going to be a waste and don’t want to get involved, but they have to do something’.

PRC projects are also less open to local and international participation, ‘out of all contractors participating in Chinese-funded projects within the Reconnecting Asia database, 89 percent are Chinese companies … In comparison, out of the contractors participating in projects funded by the multilateral development banks, 29 percent are Chinese, 40.8 percent are local, and 30.2 percent are foreign.’

So how does Australia intend to proceed? Should it be business as usual and are we content to again be seen as the dustbowl of the PRC, or can we learn to more broadly balance the benefits of BRI engagements while mitigating exposure to capital risks?

Should BRI infrastructure projects prove fruitful, there will be new industrial clusters in East Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East all needing resources and iron ore for steel manufactures, along with industry expertise. 139 ASX companies are in 34 countries across Africa, making Australia the largest international miner on the continent.  Government and industry level dialogue with bodies such as the Australia-Africa Minerals & Energy Group need to be increased to include more participants looking to understand opportunities and operational risk.

The Australian government at all levels should foster new relations with emerging economies along BRI to capitalise on the downstream effects of BRI. Examples include the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) that focuses on technology for mining, energy and agriculture.       

Australia should persistently leverage its positions in institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to create strong risk culture, strengthen governance frameworks and ensure opportunities for Australian contractors to bid under open procurement models. Increasing transparency and accountability will open the door for Australian expertise in services such as project management, engineering consultancy, and financial and legal services.

As BRI facilitates further RMB internationalization, Sydney, as 1 of 20 global official offshore RMB centers should boost its capacity to become a hub for RMB cash and security settlement in the Asia Pacific.

Australia needs to think more broadly about its relationship with the PRC by developing a multidimensional view inclusive of related economies situated along the PRC-led BRI.

NYU Sydney’s Fran Molloy on Australia’s Population Reaching 25 Million Two Decades Earlier than Predicted

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AUSTRALIA’S POPULATION HITS 25 MILLION EARLIER THAN EXPECTED

By Fran Molloy, NYU Sydney Lecturer in Journalism

On August 7, Australia’s population reached 25 million, more than two decades faster than predicted.

Recently, the Australian Bureau of Statistics population clock – which adds another Australian every 1 minute and 23 seconds – rolled over to exactly 25 million.

It’s a significant benchmark, particularly when as recently as 2002, Australia’s population was predicted to climb from 19.6 million in 2002, to 25.3 million in 2042.

Instead, Australia’s already at 25 million, more than two decades earlier than expected; and if current trends continue, will likely exceed 30 million by 2030.

“When population grows rapidly, it makes it more likely that you will have further growth in the near future, because you have a younger and more fertile population,” says Professor Nick Parr, from Macquarie’s Centre for Workforce Futures.

He points out that population growth is complex; while migration has played a huge role in for Australia’s fast growth over the last couple of decades, factors like a strong economy pre-2008 and delayed childbearing also contributed to a “baby bump” in the early years of this century.

Students + Kiwis + holiday workers + expats + babies = 25 million

In 2017, net migration accounted for 62 per cent of our population increase. “That number includes international students as well as temporary workers, working holiday makers, New Zealanders and returning expatriates,” says Parr.

With house prices recently spiralling in major cities and complaints of traffic congestion and overdevelopment growing louder, rapid population growth is generally unpopular among Australians.

But there are advantages, Parr says – chief among them that population growth due to immigration both supports our ageing residents – and slows the overall rate of ageing of our population.

“When we have more people working and contributing taxes, the costs of population ageing are spread more widely,” he says.

He says that a more pressing issue for Australia than population growth, is its distribution. “Geographically, our population growth is very heavily concentrated in the major cities, which is the key factor influencing congestion and housing issues.”

What’s next? “Our population will continue to grow, and we need to plan for that as best we can,” he says. “We need to look further into the future to ensure today’s children are educated and trained in areas that would be gainfully used in the labour market, so they help defray the costs of population aging and contribute to tax dollars.”

This article has been republished with the permission of The Lighthouse, Macquarie University’s multimedia news platform.