Dick Smith fears Australia’s population will hit 100million people by the end of the century and has vowed to resurrect the country’s famous Grim Reaper TV ads from the 1980s HIV epidemic to warn against what he calls an overpopulation crisis. 

The entrepreneur, 82, issued a ‘call-to-arms’ against overpopulation in a series of newspaper ads placed in metropolitan publications this week, titled ‘Overpopulation will destroy Australia’.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, he noted the country didn’t even have 30 million people yet but young people were being raised in ‘termite mound’ apartment blocks or suburban homes with tiny backyards. 

‘I think I might bring back that Grim Reaper ad campaign, actually I will,’ he said. 

In his advertisement, Smith said: ‘Every Aussie family has a population plan. They can have up to 20 children but they don’t. Instead they have a number they can give a good life to. 

‘Yet our political parties have no similar plan for our country!

‘Just about every problem we have in the world today is harder to fix with more people. With automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence, there are likely to be fewer jobs available in the future.

‘Do we want an Australia where our children and grandchildren will never have a proper career? Of course we don’t. Or an Australia where they will never be able to afford a house with a backyard – instead living in a world of endless traffic gridlock.

Dick Smith has launched a new ad campaign warning against overpopulation

A snippet of Smith’s latest newspaper ad

A still from Smith 2017 Grim Reaper-inspired TV ad warning against overpopulation

‘Eight of ten Australians want  a population plan.’

Smith also used his ads to urge voters to contact politicians regarding a plan for overpopulation.

‘Ask your state and federal politicians to come up with a plan as we can’t grow forever,’ the ad reads. ‘Don’t let wealthy donors to political parties destroy Australia as we know it today.’

Smith told the Daily Mail he’s received ‘amazing support’ since the ads went into circulation.

‘I get stopped in the street by people who now believe Australia is getting too overpopulated,’ Smith said. 

He said the government needs to cap immigration to 70,000 people a year and announce a population plan.

Smith also said allowing endless immigration is just ‘endless growth, endless greed’.

‘We would have over 100 million about the end of the century when our grandchildren will still be alive,’ Smith said. 

A still from the 1980s Grim Reaper ad campaign which terrified Aussies

Smith based his TV ad campaign on the AIDS ad (above) because it was effective in raising awareness

‘[The ad campaign] is a call to arms, hopefully Labor comes to the party. Our PM is a good PM but you can’t just kowtow to the billionaires, they keep pushing for immigration because they want their tens of billions to turn into 20 billions.

‘Immigration is not geared to help the Aussie family, it’s about helping the rich.’

Smith said he believed capping immigration at 70,000 and capping the population at 30million ‘sounds about right’ but he admits it is difficult to lock down a particular number. 

Smith also said One Nation has ‘certainly got the right policy in bring down the immigration numbers to 70,000’.

‘Everyone is telling me “I’m going to vote for One Nation”, but I’m not sure if they have a population plan,’ Smith said.

‘The Greens don’t, Labor doesn’t, it’s so simple, let’s get the experts in and say what would be the optimum number [for population], I think it’s something between 28 and 30 million.’

‘I just can’t believe Anthony Albanese doesn’t have a plan, what is the optimum number and how we get there and that’s what I’ll be asking of politicians. 

‘Right now it’s just Dick Smith spending his hard-earned money [raising awareness of overpopulation].’

Smith said Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has ‘certainly got the right policy in bringing down the immigration numbers to 70,000’

Smith also blasted the ABC for pushing an immigration agenda. 

‘The ABC is pushing for just absolutely endless growth,but how can we sustain such a number?’ he said. 

‘Australian mothers are very bright, they are only having children they know they can look after.’

Smith has previously called on the Albanese government to stop letting record numbers of immigrants in after it was revealed the country’s population hit 28million earlier this month

Smith urged the government to lower immigration as Bureau of Statistics data this week showed that another person is added every 75 seconds, which is courtesy of immigration, rather than the country’s plateauing birth rate.

Smith added that he’s pro-immigration, given Australia needs more skilled workers and has a declining birth rate, but only to a number that resources can support.

The ABS forecasts population growth will surge at a more rapid rate over the next few decades.

It estimates the country will reach a population of 30million in the next five years and 45 million before 2070.

Smith (pictured with wife Pip) said overpopulation will hurt Aussie families 

That data indicates a baby born today will be alive to see Australia’s population reach 100million.

The massive increase is largely being driven by record levels of immigration.

Immigration refers to people permanently settling in Australia from overseas while migration more widely refers to temporary travel.

The ABS claimed one baby is born in Australia every two minutes and 16 seconds while one person arrives to live in Australia every 59 seconds.

Overall, that makes the population grow by one person roughly every 75 seconds.

‘It’s completely irresponsible because a typical Australian family can have 20 children in their lifetime but none do,’ Smith said.

‘All parents have a population plan but our politicians have no population plan for the country as a whole.’

Smith also previously expressed fears homes with a backyard in capital cities will no longer exist by 2050 due to high immigration.

Smith noted that backyards are shrinking ‘so there’s no room to do anything in them’ 

Smith predicted housing will be even more ‘catastrophically’ unaffordable as Australia’s population booms 

He said by then housing will have become even more ‘catastrophically’ unaffordable and Australia’s population will be heading towards 50 million people.

‘We’re moving to a situation that I would say is similar to battery hens,’ he told Daily Mail.

‘We used to have free range chooks in our housing, in other words, parents could buy a place with a backyard for their kids to play in.

‘Now, it’s as if we’re going to the battery chook version of that, where people live in high-rises, crammed in like termites.’

Smith said humans haven’t evolved to live in ultra-dense apartments.

‘When I fly my helicopter over the Sydney suburbs, especially the western suburbs, it’s places just crammed in on each other,’ he said.

‘The backyards are only two metres in depth, so there’s no room to do anything in them. Now, those places with backyards are going to be replaced with high-rises.’

If a young Australian was shown a photograph of a typical 1960s house with a backyard versus a picture of a dense unit complex, Smith said there was ‘absolutely no doubt’ they would choose the home.

‘We’re forcing them into these termite mound-type, high-rise developments, which is not going to be good for our young people,’ he said.