Several countries are fighting the onset of demographic transition, which is the automatic dropping of birth rates and hence population when a certain level of economic security is reached. Australia is reported to be one of those countries.
The transition is the most attractive way of getting the world population down while boosting standards in the poorer countries.
A country that seeks to grow its population in defiance of nature is just worsening our planetary overshoot, motivated, it seems, by the fossil economics of overtrading and jostling for market share. The intelligence that got them into this privileged position does not seem to cope with concepts beyond its borders.
Australia’s overdue embrace of Kiwis as citizens is a simple matter of fairness, and in part due to a more compassionate administration and good diplomacy.
However, it has a selfish, fossil-economics factor as well: to build population by retaining half a million Kiwis, and in the short term, possibly attracting many more.
