Memo to Tudge: “Average population growth” hits 456m in 2200

Wednesday 16 October 2019

The Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure, Alan Tudge, appeared on Peta Credlin’s Sky News program, whereby he played down angst over Australia’s ballooning population by claiming that Australia’s population growth rate is currently 1.6%, “the average since federation”.

Technically, Tudge is correct in his claim, as illustrated in the next chart:

However, by focussing solely on the population growth rate, he is also being highly disingenuous.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.