However, efforts to maintain housing and rental affordability and liveability need to be implemented urgently in non-metropolitan Australia to maintain ‘cheaper housing’ and ‘different lifestyle’ as pull factors, and limit the impact of population growth on communities and local housing markets. [...] Limiting short-term rental accommodation (STRA), providing state and federal government support to build appropriate social and affordable housing, and increasing or attracting trade workers/building inspectors to aid housing construction are potential policy solutions, as well as upgrading and developing air, road and rail services, and health and education infrastructure and services. [...] This study is part of a wider AHURI Inquiry into projecting Australia’s urban and regional futures that aims to investigate the population dynamics and regional mobility trends impacting regional and urban Australia and planning and policy responses. [...] Managing population change: interviews with local government and economic development stakeholders 4.1 Challenges related to population change 4.1.1 Infrastructure 4.1.2 Facilities and services 4.1.3 Housing and planning 4.1.4 Key worker attraction and retention 4.2 Solutions to managing population change 4.2.1 Infrastructure and service upgrades 4.2.2 Housing and planning solutions 4.2.3 Upskilli. [...] Conclusions and policy development options for non-metropolitan Australia 5.1 How can regional pull factors be strengthened and push factors be addressed? 5.1.1 Employment, jobs growth and economic development 5.1.2 Promoting and maintaining place-specific lifestyle and amenity attributes 5.1.3 Enhancing local infrastructure and services 5.1.4 Increasing housing and rental stock and diversity, and.
- Pages
- 7
- Published in
- Australia
Table of Contents
- List of tables 1
- List of figures 1
- List of boxes 1
- Acronyms and abbreviations used in this report 1
- Executive summary 3
- 1. Introduction 1
- 1.1 Population change in non-metropolitan Australia 1
- 1.1.1 Migration and non-metropolitan areas 1
- 1.1.2 Non-metropolitan urban centres of high population change 1
- 1.1.3 Place-based drivers of migration in and out of non-metropolitan areas 1
- 1.1.4 Impacts of COVID-19 and other recent events 1
- 1.2 Policy approaches to encourage population growth in regional Australia 1
- 1.3 Challenges of managing changing populations 1
- 1.4 Research questions 1
- 1.5 Research methods 1
- 2. Modelling factors associated with population change in non-metropolitan areas 1
- 2.1 Identified variables impacting population change from an international literature review 1
- 2.2 Analysis of variables 1
- 2.2.1 Variable transformations 1
- 2.2.2 Multi-collinearity 1
- 2.2.3 Multiple regression model 1
- 2.3 Implications for policy development 1
- 3. Place-based factors of population change: a community survey approach 1
- 3.1 Case study area profiles 1
- 3.1.1 Port Macquarie Hastings 1
- 3.1.2 Ballarat 1
- 3.1.3 Broken Hill 1
- 3.2 Characteristics of movers to case study areas 1
- 3.2.1 Port Macquarie Hastings 1
- 3.2.2 Ballarat 1
- 3.2.3 Broken Hill 1
- 3.3 Reasons for moving to case study areas 1
- 3.3.1 Reasons for moving by movers’ characteristics 1
- 3.3.2 Government and industry incentives to move to case study areas 1
- 3.3.3 Impact of recent events on reasons to move to case study areas 1
- 3.4 Likelihood and potential reasons for moving from case study areas 1
- 3.4.1 Likelihood of moving from case study areas 1
- 3.4.2 Characteristics of people most likely to move 1
- 3.4.3 Where movers from case study areas would potentially move to 1
- 3.4.4 Potential reasons for moving from case study areas 1
- 3.5 Policy implications 1
- 4. Managing population change: interviews with local government and economic development stakeholders 1
- 4.1 Challenges related to population change 1
- 4.1.1 Infrastructure 1
- 4.1.2 Facilities and services 1
- 4.1.3 Housing and planning 1
- 4.1.4 Key worker attraction and retention 1
- 4.2 Solutions to managing population change 1
- 4.2.1 Infrastructure and service upgrades 1
- 4.2.2 Housing and planning solutions 1
- 4.2.3 Upskilling and key worker attraction 1
- 4.3 Key implications for managing population change 1
- 5. Conclusions and policy development options for non-metropolitan Australia 1
- 5.1 How can regional pull factors be strengthened and push factors be addressed? 1
- 5.1.1 Employment, jobs growth and economic development 1
- 5.1.2 Promoting and maintaining place-specific lifestyle and amenity attributes 1
- 5.1.3 Enhancing local infrastructure and services 1
- 5.1.4 Increasing housing and rental stock and diversity, and ensuring housing affordability 1
- 5.1.5 Key and skilled worker attraction and retention 1
- 5.2 How can population growth and change be managed effectively? 1
- 5.2.1 Timing and preparedness 1
- 5.2.2 Coordination and cooperation of place-based interventions 1
- 5.3 Final remarks and further research 1
- References 1
- Appendix 1: Justification for case study LGA selection 1
- Appendix 2: Rationale and data sources for included variables 1
- Appendix 3: Justification for excluded variables 1
- Appendix 4: Variance inflation factors 1
- Appendix 5: Example survey (Ballarat) 1
- Table 1: Research questions, data sources and methodology 1
- Table 2: List of interview participants, position title and/or organisational affiliation 1
- Table 3: Explanatory variables identified in the Australian and international literature used in modelling 1
- Table 4: OLS regression results, 2011–16 model 1
- Table 5: OLS regression results, 2016–21 model 1
- Table 6: Selected characteristics, Port Macquarie Hastings LGA 1
- Table 7: Selected characteristics, Ballarat LGA 1
- Table 8: Selected characteristics, Broken Hill LGA 1
- Table 9: Grants and incentives for moving to each LGA noted by survey respondents 1
- Table 10: Number of survey respondents who were influenced by recent events to move to the case study areas 1
- Figure 1: Map of case study LGAs (italics) relative to nearest Australian capital cities (bold) 1
- Figure 2: Comparison of length of residence in Port Macquarie Hastings LGA of survey sample versus Census 2021 1
- Figure 3: Count of location prior to moving to Port Macquarie Hastings LGA (movers only) (n = 399) 1
- Figure 4: Comparison of length of residence in Ballarat LGA of survey sample versus residents in Census 2021 1
- Figure 5: Count of location prior to moving to Ballarat LGA (movers only) (n = 350) 1
- Figure 6: Comparison of length of residence in Broken Hill of survey sample versus residents in Census 2021 1
- Figure 7: Count of location prior to moving to Broken Hill LGA (movers only) (n = 263) 1
- Figure 8: Percentage of total movers to each case study area by stated reason for moving 1
- Figure 9: Count of responses from movers only to ‘I/we moved to Port Macquarie ...’ (n = 397–399) 1
- Figure 10: Count of responses from movers only to ‘I/we moved to Ballarat ...’ (n = 346–350) 1
- Figure 11: Count of responses from movers only to ‘I/we moved to Broken Hill ...’ (n = 261–263) 1
- Figure 12: Percentage of movers to Port Macquarie Hastings LGA from capital cities versus regional areas by stated reasons for moving (n = 399) 1
- Figure 13: Percentage of movers to Ballarat LGA from capital city versus regional areas by stated reasons for moving (n = 350) 1
- Figure 14: Where respondents stated they were likely to move to by case study area 1
- Figure 15: Percentage of total respondents to each case study area by stated potential reasons for leaving 1
- Box 1: Welcome Experience Program 1