News Service from House Harris

Fed: Soaring population is the real problem, says Labor MP

CANBERRA, Aug 17 AAP - Soaring global population is the big problem because the more people there are, the more carbon dioxide is released, a Labor backbencher says.

Kelvin Thomson has told parliament it's time for governments and policy makers around the world to come to their senses and take steps to stabilise the world's population.

"It needs to happen in every country, including here in Australia - especially here in dry, arid Australia," he said during debate about renewable energy targets.

Mr Thomson said global population had trebled to six billion in the last 50 years and was projected to double yet again.

But whenever it was suggested world population was a problem, there was zero interest from policy makers, he said.

"In my view it isn't so much a problem as the problem."

Mr Thomson said there was no reasonable prospect of Australia reducing emissions while the population grew at the rate of another million every four years.

Rising populations produced food and water shortages, overcrowded cities, more cars and, in Australia's case, excessively expensive houses and rent.

Population growth was also contributing to conflict over scarce resources.

Mr Thomson said a US study claimed human activities were producing a wave of species extinctions 100 times greater than natural rates.

"Sometimes I think we have declared war on everything else," he said.

"The more there are of us, the less there is of everything else. I consider it a grotesque piece of arrogance on our part as a species that we think that we have a right to destroy everything else on our way to affluence."