Dick Smith issues an urgent warning to Australia – and he wants something to be done before it’s too late

With more than 400,000 immigrants arriving in Australia in the past financial year, veteran businessman Dick Smith is one of many high-profile Australians calling for urgent population stabilization before it is too late.

Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) has more than 17,000 signatures – including Mr Smith’s – for its ‘Say NO to a Greater Australia!’ campaign, just months after the federal election, where immigration is expected to be a major talking point.

“We are on track to double our population, which will be a disaster for Australia,” Smith, 80, told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.

The philanthropist said neither the government nor the opposition have any plan to control Australia’s population growth, while SPA has called for policies that stabilize the population below 30 million.

“Every Australian family has a population plan. They can have 20 children in their lifetime, but none will,” he said.

“They all have the number of children they can give a good life to. So they all have a plan. But when it comes to our country, we have no plan at all.”

Despite his vast wealth, the millionaire admits he worries about the future of his nine grandchildren given record immigration in Australia.

He said the lack of a plan to tackle the problem is caused by big companies.

“The billionaires who have doubled their wealth in the last decade just want more money,” Smith said.

“And one of the biggest drivers of population growth is developer Harry Triguboff. He’s already worth $22 billion (but) he’s constantly encouraging more immigration because he desperately wants more money.”

In May, Mr Triguboff, the founder and CEO of housing giant Meriton, called for more immigration.

“The migrants we bring must come from everywhere,” he said.

‘Many countries have residents who are eager to come. Many people suffer abroad and are often very well educated and used to hard work. We need both of these.”

But Mr. Smith rejected such talk, sarcastically suggesting that this strategy would lead to “just endless growth, I guess, until we run out of food.”

He pointed out that many politicians claim to want lower levels of immigration until they reach the point where they can do something about it, but choose not to, including John Howard, who was prime minister from 1996 to 2007.

‘Until the time of John Howard we had an immigration of about 70,000 net a year for decades, and that gave us a beautiful Australia to cope with. [and] housing was affordable,” Mr Smith said.

‘That was the optimal number, about 70,000 per year, and that is what I support. Now it is about 300,000 per year, or (in the 2022-2023 financial year) it was 500,000.’

Sustainable Population Australia has collected more than 17,000 signatures on its ‘Say NO to a Greater Australia!’ campaign. A packed Bondi beach is pictured

Mr Smith said the only people who benefit from very high levels of immigration are the extremely wealthy.

“It’s really good for the billionaires… the greed, they’ll just make an incredible amount more money,” he said.

‘But it applies to almost everyone [they’ll be] worse off because the wealth of our country is fixed, it is determined by the mineral and primary resources we have.

“Double the population and everyone is worth half.”

Mr Smith warns that living conditions will be bleak for future generations, who could be ‘crammed’ into huge Chinese-style apartments if immigration remains at current levels.

‘In the interests of our children and grandchildren, we must have a population plan. “It’s a dry, arid country and yes, I have no doubt we can bring in 100 million here, but there will be a lot of poor people,” he said.

‘They will be crammed into high-rise buildings like termites and battery chickens. We are already building our first high-rise schools, so they don’t even have a schoolyard to play on.

“So with a country that has so much open space, we’re going to end up with termite mounds and it’s going to be a huge leap backwards because of our own stupidity.”

Mr Smith dismissed the “ridiculous” idea that Australia needs mass immigration to curb the massive skills shortage across the country.

“We need to train people to fill those positions,” he said.

Peter Strachan, national president of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA), agrees.

“Australians are angry about the impact of rapid population growth on their lives and frustrated that their voices are not being heard by our political leaders,” he said.

Mr Strachan said the 17,000 signatures showed “Australians have spoken and are waiting for our federal leaders to meet us at the table.”

‘Survey after survey shows that most Australians want population growth to stop. Congestion, the cost of living, the housing crisis and concerns about the environment and water security are just some of the reasons why Australians are seeking real leadership on this issue,” he said.

‘People are fed up with their voices being ignored by vested interests, including property developers, large corporations and, counter-intuitively, many environmental and conservation organisations.’