The population change, migration patterns and economic dynamics of Australia’s regional urban centres

Abstract

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Understanding the lived experience and benefits of regional cities

“…While the population of Mildura grew between 2006 and 2016, population in the city's catchment declined, indicating that the region's population is concentrating within the city (Li et al 2022). Figure 9 indicates that population growth in Mildura from 2006-2016 was mainly due to increased residents in their 20s and those over 50, aligning with the broad trend towards population ageing in regional Australia (AIHW 2018).…”

“…These five cities were also categorised in alignment to the regional city typology developed in the associated project for this Inquiry (Li et al 2022):…”

“…While not strongly evident in the interviews for this research, whether the city can sustain its population needs to be a consideration for developing policy for Mildura. The population of the functional economic region is in decline, and the current growth may not continue if it results from consolidation from the surrounding settlements (Li et al 2022).…”

“…As discussed in research associated with this Inquiry by Li et al (2022), there is a need for a greater focus on developing regional economies and employment markets to support regional population growth. This can be seen as a reversal of current policy directions, where investment in projects like high speed rail aim to attract residents to regional cities to then stimulate local economies (McCormack 2018).…”

“…This argument for differentiated and place-based approaches, that respond to local circumstances, capabilities and objectives is a recurrent theme in Australian regional development (Beer et al 2020;Li et al 2022). Eversole (2017: 1) contends that:…”