To extrapolate on the news of the week, Michael McLaren is joined by writer for The Spectator Australia and contributor to Sky News, Terry Barnes.

As a public struggling to deal with the symptoms of overpopulation rallies the Morrison Government  on population policy, it’s becoming increasingly clear no curtailing or cut to our unfettered immigration rate is in sight.

Instead, the government is reportedly throwing about ideas around mandatory decentralisation, in a bid to placate city voters fed up with congestion, strained infrastructure, stagnating wage growth and escalating house prices.

The reported plan could involve dispersing the population by forcing migrants to settle in regional areas for five years.

But Adam Creighton from The Australia has his doubts about the feasibility of the policy, saying it lacks enforceability.

“I think it’s a very misguided idea,” says Crieghton.  

“Just imagine if someone comes over here, breaks the condition of the visa and moves the Sydney or Melbourne. What’s the government going to do? Are they seriously going to get the federal police to take them back?”

“As the economy changes from a primarily agricultural based economy to a services economy, the jobs are in the city. Especially if you’re a migrant, you’re going to want to go to the cities, where you’ll maximise your chance of getting a job.”

“Generally the unemployment rates are actually higher in the regions to the cities. So why would you want to send people places where the unemployment rate is actually higher?”

Michael McLaren says half-baked decentralisation plans distract from the real remedy, which is cutting the immigration rate.

“If you want to deal with population pressure, you’ve got to deal with the numbers. You can’t move them around like pieces on a chess board.”

Listen to the Full Show podcast of Overnight with Michael McLaren on September 19

Professor David Flint chats to Michael McLaren on the weeks political news.

Listen to the Full Show podcast of Overnight with Michael McLaren on September 18

Michael Mclaren chats with naturopath Russell Setright to get the latest in health and wellbeing news.

Carly Tonkinson from IT Financial Services joins Michael Mclaren for The Bottom Line.

“ITFS is an independently owned, boutique financial planning and investment advisory firm. It is a testament to the stability we provide to our clients that the founding partners are all self-employed and have worked together for almost 20 years.”

Though our drought-ravaged farmers in the bush have been brutalised by a chronic lack of rainfall, it looks like city-dwellers also haven’t escaped the dry patch.

Sydney has also been caught up in its worst drought since 1965, with government projecting just 83 billion litres of water will fall into the city’s catchment dams this year. This pales in comparison to the previous record low of 136 billion litres back in 1944, raising concerns about what lies ahead if the dry spell fails to snap.

“The current storage levels of Sydney’s dams is just under 64% and dropping at 9.7% a week,” says Dr  Ian Wright from Western Sydney University.

“And it’s completely unknown what climate is going to deliver to us in the next weeks and months.”

However it’s not just the uncooperative weather causing the problems. This is compounded with Sydney’s ballooning population and the associated surge in demand, exacerbating the shortage.

“We’ve got more population, our capital cities are all increasing, yet Mother Nature may be giving less precipitation.”

“With increasing population and limited supply, are we investing enough? Are we enhancing our water infrastructure? It’s a good question to ask.”

Wright says part of the problem is Australia’s ‘out of sight, out of mind mentality.’ When drought is unfolding in our immediate vicinity, drought proofing infrastructure and water harvesting policies become a priority. But once the drought breaks, the issue falls off the agenda, leading to reactionary water policy, rather than the preventative, vision-laden policy we need. 

“ When it’s urgent and front of mind, we think about it and government tends to plan and developments schemes. Then the dams fill and it goes quiet.”

“I think we do get a bit lazy and complacent.”

Listen to the Full Show podcast of Overnight with Michael McLaren on September 17

Listen to the Full Show podcast of Overnights with Luke Grant on September 14