The result of the 2023 Referendum on Indigenous Recognition and the Voice to Parliament was a disappointing outcome for the ‘Yes’ campaign and I feel that disappointment too.While the overall result seemed never to be in doubt, the pattern of voting across Australia is highly revealing about the nature of people’s views about progressive social issues. It may also reflect the inherent conservative nature of the Australian electorate when it comes to change and the level of priority that Australians have towards the nation’s first peoples.The blurring of traditionally labour areas into the ‘No’ camp and liberal areas into the ‘Yes’ camp is obvious from…
Author: Matthew Deacon
A cycling jaunt One of my pastimes and outlets is cycling along rail trails. They are peaceful and you get a chance to see some amazing Australian countryside.I recently rode to Mansfield in Victoria along what is called ‘The Great Victorian Rail Trail’. There is some spectacular scenery and impressive engineering feats, the chief amongst them being the bridge across the Eildon Dam at Bonnie Doon (How’s the Serenity!).This trip made me reflect on the demographic changes that have occurred in the region and divergent patterns of population growth in these two centres over time. Understanding regional growth To provide context to the nature of regional growth in…
Many people will be aware that Australia’s population growth has rebounded after the lean COVID-19 years. Unprecedented levels of overseas migration have reversed the minimal population growth from the June Quarter of 2020 to the September Quarter of 2021. The strength of the rebound has come as a bit of a surprise, given the levels of pessimism regarding Australia’s demographic and economic outlook during the peak of the pandemic only two years ago. The increase has been unprecedented with the latest data showing a net migration gain to Australia of almost 387,000 people in the year ending December 2022. This is the highest gain to…
Much has been spoken about the changes in development patterns across Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we analyse dwelling growth in New South Wales and Sydney to discover how development patterns have changed over the last three Census periods. How did we do it? We have allocated all ABS SA2 geographies in Sydney and Regional NSW in 2021 to a series of categories:In Sydney by sector (inner, northern, south-western etc.) and ring (inner, outer etc.)In regional NSW by size of settlement, areas along the coast, areas around Sydney and remaining areasSA2s were allocated for 2016 and 2011 and ABS State Suburbs…
Where has residential development in Melbourne occurred? The beautiful wonderful world of rings and sectors. Much has been spoken about the changes in development patterns across Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we analyse dwelling growth in Victoria and Melbourne to discover how development patterns have changed over the last three Census periods. How did we do it? We have allocated all ABS SA2 geographies in Melbourne and Regional Victoria in 2021 to a series of categories:In Melbourne by sector (inner, north, west, etc.) and ring (inner, outer, etc.)In regional Victoria by size of settlements, areas along the coast, and other remaining…
The first release of the ABS 2021 Census gave us a fascinating glimpse into to the many structural changes that has taken place within Australia over the last 5 years. Following suit, the second release continued to unravel more interesting trends about the way we’ve adjusted our behaviours and attitudes to the “new normal” in the post COVID-19 and how this is reflected on the wider community and the future of Australia.For those of you who have been following our work (both here and on LinkedIn), you’d know that we have been particularly interested in understanding what the second release reveals about the many employment…
The first release of the 2021 Census revealed key insights on the population changes we’ve seen take place within our community since 2016 and the direction in which we’re headed. For the past couple of months, our lead demographers at Demographic Solutions have been extensively covering a variety of topic on our blog page and LinkedIn. With the second release set to be made public on October 12, here’s a quick lowdown on what you need to know before the release. So, what did we learn from the first release? Fringe areas across Australia saw significant gains in population growthA lack of growth in some…
There is constant media attention regarding the state of the housing market in Australia. Are prices going up or are prices going down? Are we meeting housing demand? Are we building too many apartments? Read on to find out more. What Does the 2021 Census Data Tell Us? With the release of the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, we were very keen to see what had happened with indicators of housing supply and demand, namely: Average household size Vacancy rates These two indicators give us a simple, but relatively good feel for the dwelling supply versus demand. At the Australian level, average household size…
The rate of population growth in Tasmania accelerated rapidly during the 2016-2021 period. The growth rate of 9.3% or 47,610 persons was remarkable after a relatively sluggish previous decade where the State’s population grew by only 33,480. The fastest growing Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Tasmania were a combination of smaller rural LGAs and areas on the edge of Hobart and Launceston. However, the fastest growing LGA in Tasmania between 2016 and 2021 was Central Highlands (17.5%). Almost all LGAs in Tasmania benefited from the large overseas and interstate migration gains to the State that preceded the COVID-19 pandemic. The greatest gains in net terms…
What does the ABS 2021 Census tells us about population growth rates across Southern Australia? Despite the overall rate of population growth in SA experiencing strong gains from 2016 to 2021 (6.3%), not all LGAs across the state benefited from the large overseas migration gain that preceded the COVID-19 pandemic. The fastest growing LGAs between 2016 and 2021 were mainly the outer and fringe areas of Adelaide, where greenfield development was the most predominant. Maralinga Tjarutja Council was the fastest growing Council in remote northern South Australia with a 50%+ increase, although the gain was just 34 persons.Most coastal areas grew strongly in the lead…