Businessman Dick Smith has reignited his warning over Australia’s population boom, declaring the nation could be headed for 100 million people by the end of the century and vowing to revive the infamous Grim Reaper TV ads from the 1980s HIV epidemic to hammer home his message.
The 82-year-old entrepreneur has taken out newspaper advertisements in metropolitan papers this week under the headline: “Overpopulation will destroy Australia”.
In comments published by the Daily Mail, Smith said Australia’s political leaders had no serious population plan, even as the nation edges towards 30 million people.
“I think I might bring back that Grim Reaper ad campaign, actually I will,” he said.
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Smith’s advertisements frame overpopulation as a threat to housing affordability, traffic, jobs and living standards, arguing ordinary families plan how many children they can support while governments refuse to do the same for the country.
“Every Aussie family has a population plan,” the ad says.
“They can have up to 20 children but they don’t. Instead they have a number they can give a good life to.
“Yet our major political parties have no similar plan for our country!”
Businessman Dick Smith has slammed Australia’s “relentless” population increase after it hit 28 million. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
Smith said young Australians were increasingly being raised in “termite mound” apartment blocks or suburban homes with tiny backyards, warning future generations could be locked out of both home ownership and stable careers.
“Just about every problem we have in the world today is harder to fix with more people,” his ad says.
“With automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence, there are likely to be fewer jobs available in the future.”
He is calling for immigration to be capped at 70,000 people a year and for governments to set a national population target, saying Australia “can’t grow forever”.
Entrepreneur Dick Smith has taken out a newspaper advertisement warning Australia’s surging population growth risks destroying housing affordability, employment and future generations’ quality of life.
“We would have over 100 million about the end of the century when our grandchildren will still be alive,” Smith said.
“(The ad campaign) is a call to arms, hopefully Labor comes to the party. Our PM is a good PM but you can’t just kowtow to the billionaires, they keep pushing for immigration because they want their tens of billions to turn into 20 billions.”
He also used the campaign to urge Australians to pressure state and federal politicians to adopt a long-term population strategy.
“Ask your state and federal politicians to come up with a plan as we can’t grow forever,” the ad says.
“Don’t let wealthy donors to political parties destroy Australia as we know it today.”
A still from the 1980s Grim Reaper ad campaign which terrified Aussies.
Smith said he had received “amazing support” since the advertisements began circulating and claimed many Australians now believed the country was becoming overpopulated.
The intervention comes as Australia’s population has just passed 28 million, with Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing one person is added roughly every 75 seconds.
The ABS says one baby is born every two minutes and 16 seconds, while one person arrives to live in Australia every 59 seconds.
Official projections estimate Australia’s population will hit 30 million within five years and 45 million before 2070, with migration driving much of that growth.
Smith based his TV ad campaign on the AIDS ad (above) because it was effective in raising awareness.
Smith said he was not against immigration, arguing Australia still needed skilled workers, but said intake should be limited to levels the nation’s housing, infrastructure and resources could sustain.
“We’re moving to a situation that I would say is similar to battery hens,’ he told Daily Mail.
“We used to have free range chooks in our housing, in other words, parents could buy a place with a backyard for their kids to play in.
“Now, it’s as if we’re going to the battery chook version of that, where people live in high-rises, crammed in like termites.”
He has repeatedly warned that without change, the traditional Australian backyard home will become increasingly out of reach, replaced by dense high-rise living.
“We’re forcing them into these termite mound-type, high-rise developments, which is not going to be good for our young people,” he said.
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