The population issue is not about asylum seekers or refugees.

• Asylum seekers arriving by boat (around 5,000 p/a) make up less than 2 per cent of Australia's population growth
• Liberal, Labor and Stable Population Party agree on an annual refugee intake of around 14,000, which INCLUDES boat arrivals (Greens want total refugee intake near-doubled)
• Stable Population Party wants an end to dangerous boat journeys and would support the offshore processing regime of EITHER major party if elected
• Stable Population Party's main goal is to assist people around the world to live sustainably and peacefully in their homeland

The issues of asylum seekers arriving by boat and population growth are not, and should not, be linked for political purposes. But unfortunately, certain politicians are cynically channeling peoples' concerns over rapid population growth and subsequent erosion of Australia's quality of life, and directing it at a handful of people who arrive on boats.

Both the Liberal and Labor parties agree on an annual refugee intake of around 14,000 (the highest or second highest per capita intake in the Western world). The Stable Population Party also supports Australia's intake of around 14,000 genuine refugees per annum.

Australia’s total annual refugee intake makes up less than 3 per cent of Australia’s recent annual population growth of around 400,000 people.

Asylum seekers arriving by boat (around 5,000 per annum) make up less than 2 per cent of Australia’s population growth.

Further, these asylum seekers arriving by boat seeking refugee status do not increase Australia's rate of population growth in any material way. This is because asylum seekers that are deemed to be genuine refugees have been included within the total number of refugees we accept each year.

Asylum seekers and refugees therefore have no material impact on Australia's population growth.

The population issue is really about an excess of permanent immigrants over permanent emigrants (around 250,000 per annum) combined with an excess of births over deaths (around 150,000 per annum).

The Stable Population Party supports Australia's current refugee intake. But this should be within a balanced migration program, where total permanent immigration equals total permanent emigration. In recent years total permanent emigration has been around 80,000 per annum.

Australia has a proud record of refugee resettlement, with over 700,000 refugees taken in since World War II. We can be compassionate and help resolve our population growth crisis with a balanced, flexible and sustainable migration program.

Of course the Stable Population Party would prefer to see all refugees arrive through an orderly United Nations system - and an end to dangerous boat journeys. But it is ultimately immaterial to total population growth numbers if several thousand asylum seekers seeking refugee status arrive by boat.

The way forward

Through our party’s proposed foreign aid policies focused on women’s education and family planning services, our main goal is to assist people around the world to live sustainably within the resource limits of their country. Assisting people to live in peace and harmony in their homeland without the need for forced migration is the ultimate form of compassion.

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