Sunbathers may need tickets to access Bondi Beach if Sydney’s population becomes too large, the former New South Wales Premier has warned.
Bob Carr said that fences and turnstiles may be considered to reduce overcrowding as Australia’s population is projected to hit 36million by 2050.
He suggested that tickets could be issued online for access to the beach or the coastal walk nearby.
Sunbathers may soon need tickets to access Bondi Beach if Sydney’s population grows too big, the former NSW premier has warned
Bob Carr said that fences and turnstiles may have to be considered to reduce overcrowding as Australia’s population is projected to hit 40million by 2050
‘Do you have fences and turnstiles around Bondi, for example, when the population reaches the sort of intensified level that means the roads are choked most days in summer?,’ he asked on ABC TV’s Four Corners program.
‘Do you start to ration access to the coastal path – fences, turnstiles, online ticketing?’
It was also revealed on the show how Melbourne is seeing a rise in so-called vertical schools which have playgrounds and classrooms five storeys high in a bid to save space when catering for a growing population.
Australia’s population is expected to tick over 25 million this year – a number the nation wasn’t meant to reach for decades.
Mr Carr’s comments come after the New South Wales opposition leader called for a cap on Australia’s migrant intake.
Labour MP for Auburn Luke Foley demanded that a cap be set ‘in consultation with all of the states and territories’.
He criticised politicians in Canberra for failing to recognise the strain that population growth is allegedly putting on Sydney and Melbourne, saying: ‘Frankly these people are out of touch.’
Australia’s population is projected to hit 36million by 2050. Pictured: The population increases in cities
The New South Wales opposition leader has called for a cap on Australia’s migrant intake amid fears Sydney will soon become so crowded that tickets will have to be issued for Bondi Beach (pictured)
It was also revealed how Melbourne is seeing a rise in so-called vertical schools which have playgrounds and classrooms five storeys high in a bid to save space when catering for a growing population. Pictured: South Melbourne Primary School, Victoria’s first vertical school
Labour MP for Auburn Luke Foley (pictured) demanded that a cap be set ‘ in consultation with all of the states and territories’
‘Do you start to ration access to the coastal path – fences, turnstiles, online ticketing?, asked Bob Carr (pictured)
Speaking on 2GB radio on Monday, he added: ‘Sydney full of towers is the inevitable consequence of the current very large migrant intake.’
Sydney’s pull as the largest city and a job magnet has contributed to one-third of the nation’s migrants coming into the city, Mr Foley said.
‘The challenge we face at the moment is the capacity of our largest cities to absorb the very large numbers of migrants that are coming in.’
Social researcher Dr Rebecca Huntley said the population increase is not a result of larger families but from immigration.
As the population grows, experts are becoming more concerned about how major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne will keep up with the pressure on infrastructure, health and education.
‘We’ve done an abysmal job,’ Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox told Four Corners.
‘There has been really no serious integrated debate around all the key factors that population growth brings to our economy and our national way of life.’
Sydney’s population is set to rise by 2.6million in the next few decades according to a government report. Pictured: Bondi Beach
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called for Australia to drop its immigration numbers from 190,000 to 1110,000 a year
Demand for public transport will increase by 55 per cent in Sydney, where the train network (pictured) has already been forced to add new services to keep up with demand
Infrastructure Australia chief executive Philip Davies has called for Australia to up its game in terms of planning as Sydney and Melbourne start to mirror global cities like London and Hong Kong.
Australian businessman Dick Smith, who last year launched a $1million TV campaign calling for a limit to the number of immigrants, sees disaster for the Australian way of life.
‘You’re jammed like a termite in a high rise, or I say battery chooks,’ he told Four Corners.
‘To buy a house with a backyard to play cricket and have a cubby house, that’s gone forever.’
Demand for public transport will increase by 55 per cent in Sydney, where the train network has already been forced to add new services to keep up with demand