Dick Smith’s new campaign calls for action on immigration and ‘spreading the wealth’

Entrepreneur Dick Smith has called for immigration levels to be cut before Australia's population becomes unsustainable.

He spoke at a press conference today ahead of the release of a campaign video.

Last night Mr Smith told A Current Affair the warning signs could be seen in the number of high-rise developments and unit blocks in Australia's major cities.

He is spending more than $1 million to warn of the "dangers" of the unchecked economic growth promulgated by Australian politicians, in a controversial new campaign.

"We're told that endless economic growth is the solution to all our problems, but what if growth is the problem?" he said.

Australia's annual population growth is higher than many nations around the world at 1.78 percent.

This compares to China at 0.46 percent and Germany at -0.16 percent.

"What we have to do is be more like the sensible countries in the world - they have no real growth," Mr Smith said.

"Look at the Scandinavian countries, under 10 million population each and really wealthy, they're smart."

He said the proliferation of high-rises in Australian cities would turn "free-range kids" into "battery kids", unable to play in the backyard.

Mr Smith also urged the government to act on wealth inequality, saying that in Australia the wealthiest one percent of the population had as much wealth as 70 percent of the remainder.

"I'd much rather it be spread out," he said.

"We should go back to the tax rates of the 70s, when people like Gerry Harvey and myself and John Singleton did very well - then we can spread the wealth again."