Regional population growth grown twice as fast as Perth during 90s

4/6/95

Populations in most of Western Australia's major regional centres have grown twice as fast as Perth during the 1990s, according to Regional Development Minister Hendy Cowan.

He says overall regional population growth rates are also outstripping the metropolitan area.

Mr Cowan revealed the trend at the start of a major campaign this week called 'Celebrate the Regions', showcasing the worth of living and working in regional WA.

He said population estimates by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in the five years 1989-94, Mandurah's population exploded at an average of 9.1 per cent each year, while Bunbury and surrounding shires grew by 3.1 per cent, Geraldton and Greenough by 2.4 per cent and Albany town and shire by 2.2 per cent.

Overall regional population growth averaged 1.3 per cent a year.  Perth's average annual increase was only 1 per cent.

Mr Cowan said an analysis of the figures by the Department of Commerce and Trade showed that Kalgoorlie kept pace with Perth while Busselton (4 per cent) and Esperance (3.0 per cent) and Broome (2.3 per cent) surged ahead.

Along with Mandurah, local government areas in the Peel region; Murray (4.7 per cent), Waroona (4.2 per cent), Jarrahdale (4 per cent) and Boddington (3.4 per cent) all grew. 

Augusta-Margaret River (4.6 per cent) and Denmark (4.2 per cent) on the south coast and Irwin (3.4 per cent) which includes Dongara in the Mid-West also grew strongly. 

Mr Cowan said rapid growth in the Peel Region (7 per cent) and shires bordering the metropolitan area, like Chittering (7.3 per cent), Gingin (2.1 per cent) Toodyay (6.2 per cent) was mostly attributable to Perth's urban sprawl.

"However, the expansion of major country centres and the South West (2.5 per cent) and Great Southern (1.7 per cent) regions suggests a change in long established trends as people take advantage of better lifestyle and economic opportunities," he said.

Populations in agriculture-based communities in the Mid-West, Wheatbelt and Great Southern remained fairly static while numbers had fallen in some mining and pastoral areas in the Goldfields Esperance and Mid-West regions after solid growth in the previous five years.

In the Gascoyne, numbers fell at an average 2.7 per cent after growing by 3.2 per cent annually between 1984-89. 

The Pilbara's population fell by 11.6 per cent over the period, an annual rate of 2.4 per cent, but new and proposed investment in resources and processing projects could see this trend reversed in the second half of the decade.

Mr Cowan said that increased tourism and promising new developments on the Ord River could also see the Kimberley population return to the strong growth rates of the 1980s after five years in which annual growth averaged only 0.1 per cent.

Media contact: Peter Jackson 222 9595