Journalist George Megalogenis Shared His Ideas with The Australian Fabian Society

Journalist George Megalogenis

David Marr posits, 'This man is perhaps the sanest journalist in Australia.

While a lot of attention has focused on political ructions overseas in the last twelve months; Brexit in the UK and the election of Donald Trump in the US, at a recent Fabians event, journalist George Megalogenis shared his ideas on the biggest political challenge for Australia in the next 20 years.

Megalogenis argues this test is centred on the government’s role in readying for a population boom, which is largely fuelled by immigration to Melbourne and Sydney, two cities already perceived by the rest of Australia as culturally and economically disconnected from everywhere else.

Megalogenis asked some thought provoking questions for both sides of politics such as: will an Australian population of 35 million within the next fifteen years have the same standard of living as we do now if the government doesn’t invest in city planning and infrastructure to accommodate this growth? What role does the government have in ensuring the education system provides the growing population with the outcomes necessary to compete in a globalised world? And how can we manage this growth in population, which if left to its own devices, would continue to bulge the population of Melbourne and Sydney, so that all of Australia can benefit from the economic growth and rise in skills which the biggest two cities have been benefiting from for decades?

You can watch Megalogenis’s fascinating speech below to learn more about his insights into how Australia can navigate the population boom to make the most of the opportunities immigration provides, while avoiding the dangerous ramifications of doing nothing, which lead to the worst possible political outcomes in the case of Brexit and Trump.

This is an interesting speech for those interested in BREXIT from an Australian perpective. 

Image: Australian Fabians