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The Scanlon Foundation believes that the future prosperity of Australia, underpinned by continued population growth, will depend on our ability to maintain social cohesion in a society with even more cultural diversity than we have successfully accommodated historically.
The Foundation, in seeking to create awareness and knowledge based discussion about Australia's population growth and its relationship to social cohesion, has provided substantial funding grants in the following areas of research:
- The Australian Centre for Population Research at the Australian National University, led by Professor Peter McDonald and Rebecca Kippen, have undertaken projections of Australia's population that have enabled the Foundation to “lock in” on a future population target of 30 million Australians by 2050. In shorthand we refer to this as 30/50. This is the population that results from stabilizing the fertility rate around its present level and acknowledging that the level of immigration will increase largely in response to future demands for labour;
- The Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering in 2007 released a major study Report entitled “30/50 The Technological Implications of an Australian Population of 30 Million by 2050” which concludes that there are no insurmountable technological, engineering or environmental barriers to Australia sustaining a population of 30 million by 2050, assuming that thorough analysis and planning occur and that leadership is exercised by governments. See the Foundation's Chairman, Peter Scanlon's address at the ATSE launch of this Report;
- The Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements, in partnership with the Australian Multicultural Foundation, have been undertaking a major Social Cohesion Research Program one of the principal outcomes of which has been a National Benchmark Mapping of Social Cohesion in 2007. See the Foundation Chairman, Peter Scanlon's address at the launch of this report. The results of the benchmark survey were presented at a Roundtable held in Melbourne in April 2008 the Key Outcomes from which are being used to pursue practical measures and strategies for improving social cohesion within Australian communities.
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