Businessman offers 0.9 mln USD to Australia's population problem solver

Businessman Dick Smith on Wednesday offered one million Australian dollars (0.9 million U.S. dollars) to the young Australian who can come up with a solution to bring the country's population under control.

Smith has launched the Wilberforce award in Sydney, arguing that Australia's population doubles every 30 years and that the rate of growth is not sustainable.

Smith on Wednesday said he is not confident the major political parties have the answers to population growth, but a young Australian might have the solution.

"I suppose I'm looking for something like a modern Bob Geldof or a Ghandi or a someone who's going to become famous around the world in communicating the basic fact that you can't always have exponential growth," Smith told ABC Network.

The Wilberforce Award will go to a young Australian under 30 who can impress Smith by coming up with alternatives to "our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy".

Smith wants to see Australia's immigration intake cut to 70,000 a year from about 280,000, but he said neither mainstream political parties can give him a clear answer on whether this will happen.

Source: Xinhua