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INVESTA INFORMER Property News, Insights & Information

Australia to Invest $50 Million in Housing Related Infrastructure

Source: RTT News March 29, 2010

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Monday that his government will invest A$50 million in housing-related infrastructure to increase housing supply. This investment is set to deliver more than 7,000 new lots and dwellings between 6 and 14 months faster than would otherwise have been the case, said Rudd. The investment will save home buyers an average of $20,000. He added, "These investments build infrastructure for local communities, unlock housing supply and improve housing affordability." The investment is part of the Housing Affordability Fund, which reduces costs incurred as a result of planning and approval delays and infrastructure costs. The purpose of the housing affordability fund is to bring about fundamental change in infrastructure costs and planning to raise housing affordability for working families. Infrastructure costs are presently keeping too many buyers out of the home market. Rudd said this cannot be sustained for the future.

SA - OneSteel plans to reopen old mines Source: ABC News March 29, 2010

OneSteel is planning to reopen dormant mines at Iron Knob near Whyalla in South Australia next year.

The steelworks closed its Iron Monarch and Iron Princess mines in 1998. OneSteel official Angie Stokes says there is strong export demand for iron ore.

She says a meeting has been held at Iron Knob to discuss the plan with the community.

"The Iron Princess is still subject to Aboriginal heritage clearance and so we're working with the relevant parties to process that one and it would see the reinstatement of the rail line into Iron Knob," she said.

"We had a really positive meeting with a really good turn-out of community members and we were able to discuss lots of issues and concerns that they may have had and also open up the communication lines."

Dave Evans from the Iron Knob Progress Association says many of the town's 200 residents currently travel to Whyalla for work and are delighted at the prospect of reopening.

"Iron Knob is the birthplace of the steel industry in Australia and just the fact that to reopen those mines will put Iron Knob back on the map and you could just tell by the looks on their faces that it was a major boost for them and the whole community," he said.

7 April 2010

INVESTA INFORMER 7 April 2010


Contents

Australia to Invest $50 Million in Housing Related Infrastructure ............................................................................... 1

SA - OneSteel plans to reopen old mines ..................................................................................................................... 1

NSW & ACT - Population boom time for Queanbeyan ................................................................................................. 3

Regional NSW 'to grow by 70%' by 2036 ...................................................................................................................... 3

NSW is pegged as a potential liquid natural gas bonanza ............................................................................................ 4

Sydney & Melbourne - House prices to defy rise in rates ............................................................................................ 5

VIC - People our biggest import .................................................................................................................................... 6

Warrnambool VIC - Energy boom fuels population growth ......................................................................................... 7

Geelong, Surf Coast attract record population growth ................................................................................................ 8

VIC - Ballarat population growth pips Geelong and Bendigo ....................................................................................... 8

WA - Gillard advises jobless to look to the west ........................................................................................................... 9

Homes won't meet WA demand ................................................................................................................................ 10

Australian immigration leads to booming population in Perth .................................................................................. 11

Qld may need second capital: Bligh ............................................................................................................................ 12

QLD - Figures reveal growth areas .............................................................................................................................. 13

TAS - Population Growth Lagging ............................................................................................................................... 15

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NSW & ACT - Population boom time for Queanbeyan Source: The Canberra Times April 7, 2010

Regions surrounding Canberra are set for a population explosion in the next 25 years.

Across the border in Queanbeyan, the population is expected to jump by 72 per cent. And Palerang Council to Canberra's east is projected to grow by 69 per cent.

The NSW Government issued its population forecasts up to 2036 yesterday, showing regional areas with the strongest projected growth are mostly along the coast or just inland.

Planning Minister Tony Kelly said population growth in regional NSW over the next 25 years would boost the economy.

''It's pleasing to see some of our inland and coastal areas are expected to experience strong growth, helping the state's regional economy,'' Mr Kelly said.

He said the forecasts would allow all levels of government to plan for the future.

But not everyone is happy to see villages double in size.

General manager of Palerang Council Peter Bascomb said tensions were already becoming evident between developers and village locals.

He said the increasing numbers were also putting pressure on existing infrastructure and water. Queanbeyan's deputy mayor Sue Whelan said the council was already planning for the population increase. ''We're expecting our population to around 70,000 by 2036 and the state government had already identified us as a growth area anyway. So we have been working on it for a while,'' Ms Whelan said.

Regional NSW 'to grow by 70%' by 2036 Source: AAP April 6, 2010

Population growth in regional NSW over the next 25 years will boost the economy, Planning Minister Tony Kelly says.

The government on Tuesday released its population forecasts up to 2036, showing regional areas with the strongest projected growth are mostly along the coast or just inland.

Maitland's population is expected to rise 71 per cent, Palerang shire, west of Canberra, is set to go up by 69 per cent and Queanbeyan is expected to rise 72 per cent.

Other areas expected to have strong growth include Eurobodalla, Coffs Harbour and the Yass Valley, the forecasts say.

Planning Minister Tony Kelly says the projections are pleasing.

"It's pleasing to see some of our inland and coastal areas are expected to experience strong growth, helping the state's regional economy," Mr Kelly said in a statement.

The forecasts would allow all levels of government to plan for the future, he said.

The projections also showed an increase in people aged up to 14 will be limited to metropolitan areas, coastal areas and areas surrounding Canberra.



An increase in the number of people aged 65 and over will occur in every local area.

Populations of some Sydney suburbs are set to double or even quadruple.

Camden's population will more than quadruple, the forecast says, increasing by 390 per cent to 249,800 people, while Liverpool will almost double, growing by 90 per cent to 324,400 residents.

NSW is pegged as a potential liquid natural gas bonanza Source: The Australian April 03, 2010 12:00AM WHILE the shape of the Queensland liquid natural gas industry based on coal seam methane gas should become clear in the next three months, analysts are already talking about an industry of a similar size in NSW.

Two of the four major projects proposed for Queensland are due to decide this quarter whether they will make a firm commitment to the project, while the other two will probably decide within a year if their projects are viable.

Both BG and Santos are due to decide by the middle of this year whether or not they will proceed with their major LNG export projects out of Gladstone, with the raw material coming from the Surat and Bowen basins of western Queensland.

But a Brisbane conference on coal seam methane gas this week heard that NSW probably has similar reserves of coal seam methane gas in the Gunnedah and Sydney Basin, and there is no reason why NSW should not become a similar industry to that of Queensland, with Newcastle assuming the same processing role as that planned for Queensland.

In Queensland, BG's announcement this week of a further long-term sales contract with Tokyo Gas means it has firm contracts to supply 9.5 million tonnes of LNG for the next 20 years, while Santos has supply guaranteed through its joint venture partner in Malaysia's Petronas.

Past these two projects, Origin and Conoco-Phillips are likely to make a decision towards the end of this year, and the fourth, which looks as though it will be a mixture of Arrow Energy, Shell and

PetroChina, is more likely to make a firm decision on its project about the middle of next year.

Origin last week lodged its Environmental Impact Statement with the Queensland Government, and that is now open for public feedback.

But Shell is still negotiating its takeover of Arrow, although the Arrow board has recommended in favour of the takeover, there is still some scepticism in the market about whether it will proceed.

But even a decision to go ahead with the takeover will still involve some delay, with a meeting to approve the takeover scheduled for August and the actual takeover not likely to be completed until September.

Shell has said it planned to be producing LNG for export by 2015, about a year after the others, so on that timetable it is reasonable to assume that, all other factors being equal, it will make a decision early next year. Under the current scenario there will be four major exporters, each with their own LNG plant at Gladstone on Curtis Island, on the other side of the harbour to where the current port is located.

But it is this scenario that has its sceptics. Put simply, building four plants side by side to do pretty well exactly the same thing is not good economics, and there may be room here for further rationalisations. But all this activity shows the Queensland industry is well advanced, while the other state with large volumes of coal -- NSW -- is still in its formative stages.

But industry analyst Paul Balfe, who is a director at ACIL consultants, said that NSW coal deposits in the Gunnedah and Sydney basins were much the same age and with the same characteristics as the Surat and Bowen basins in Queensland.



He said that, although there had not been as much exploration in NSW as there had been in Queensland, it seemed highly likely that there were similar reserves of CSG in NSW.

"There's no doubt at all that there are very large reserves in NSW, but it's a question of having sufficient demand to tap those supplies," Mr Balfe said. "In the long term, it would be possible to replicate what's happened in Queensland in NSW, using the Gladstone model with Newcastle as the port."

The coal seam methane gas industry has been in existence in Australia since the 1970s and became more sizeable in the Bowen Basin in Queensland in the 1990s, but has really kicked on this century.

The main reason for the industry's acceleration is greater environmental concern, as gas is considerably less greenhouse-intrusive than coal as an energy source. But Mr Balfe said the greatest encouragement to the industry would be the formation of a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, as a carbon price would make coal production considerably less attractive.

"If there is a carbon price operating, then we could see a domestic demand of 1800 petajoules a year, but if there's not, it would be around 1200," he said.

There are several areas where domestic demand could be increased. One is in having power stations fired by gas instead of coal, and Origin will next month commission its gas-fired power station on the Darling Downs. Another is switching motor vehicles from petrol to compressed natural gas. Buses in Canberra, Perth and Adelaide already use it.

Fuel retailer BOC is also building a network of CNG stations and refineries to fuel long-distance trucks, with one in Chinchilla on the Darling Downs, in the middle of CSG country, being announced two weeks ago.

Sydney & Melbourne - House prices to defy rise in rates Source: Sydney Morning Herald April 6, 2010

HOUSE prices in Sydney and Melbourne are tipped to rise in the coming months, defying concerns that rising interest rates will dampen the heated sector.

The warning comes as the Reserve Bank decides whether to raise the cash rate today.

Developers say buyers will be forced to pay more as supply falls at the same rate as demand rises.

The national project marketing group MLG cites research indicating severely restricted supply has strongly driven up prices this year, especially in Sydney.

Insufficient numbers of homes being built have reached dangerous levels, forcing developers to close down or move interstate.

The managing director of MLG in NSW, Chris Freeman, said the market in Sydney was so grossly undersupplied when compared with population growth that the city was expected to lead the country in capital growth this year.

''When you look at dwelling supply against population growth the entire country is undersupplied,'' Mr Freeman said.

''It is a national phenomenon, but NSW is a standout as the state is actually approving significantly less dwellings than it was 20 years ago while population growth is around 130 per cent higher.

''This is a little over 40 per cent of the 20-year historical requirement, with just one dwelling approval now occurring for every four-person increase in population.''

In Victoria, the ratio is 1.5 dwelling approvals for every 2.3 person increase in population.



He argued that this pressure had led to Sydney posting very strong growth in house prices last quarter, which had not shown up in official figures due to the time lag.

''Our pre-sale projects in Sydney have seen exceptional demand and resale product has shown capital growth well beyond what market stats are indicating,'' he said.

''While people say the property market has had too strong a run, I think they forget that Sydney has been basically flat for the past seven years, showing just 5.8 per cent growth from 2003 to the end of 2009, while markets such as Perth have grown by 120 per cent over this period. Sydney is more than due.''

Mr Freeman said that while affordability for first home buyers was a valid argument, it should be remembered that they represented only 14 per cent of all buyers.

''As long as returns are evident for investors, which they certainly appear to be at the moment, prices look to only be heading one way, and with finance approvals for investors up almost 30 per cent over the year in NSW it looks sure to continue,'' Mr Freeman said.

MLG expects more pricing pressure from cashed-up interstate investors and stronger international sales as changes to Foreign Investment Review Board criteria start to have an impact.

VIC - People our biggest import Source: The Age March 31, 2010

MELBOURNE is squeezing up. A record 93,500 more people poured into the city in 2008-09, the biggest population growth any Australian city has seen.

Bureau of Statistics figures have raised dramatically estimates of population growth in Melbourne and regional Victoria, with the city now estimated to have topped 4 million people by July.

Sixty per cent of last year's record growth was at least 20 kilometres from the city centre. Beyond that point 55,586 were added. Higher housing prices closer to the CBD forced buyers to the outskirts.

Wyndham, the municipality that covers Werribee, alone grew by 10,758, or 8 per cent. Fifteen years ago, that was almost as much as the whole of Victoria was growing.

Casey, in the Berwick-Cranbourne area, grew by 8430. The Melton council area, including new suburbs such as Caroline Springs, grew by 7306, and Whittlesea, in the north-east, swelled by 6537.

Pakenham, 57 kilometres from the city and right on Melbourne's official boundary, had population growth of 10 per cent in a year, from 33,710 to 37,081.

By contrast, in the settled suburbs of Melbourne, growth was all over the place.

In central Melbourne, growth actually slowed as developers scrapped plans for apartment towers. But in virtually all suburbs, population grew at its fastest in years as many more people had to fit in somewhere.

Populations grew by more than 2000 in inner-suburban Moreland, Port Phillip and Glen Eira, and in middle-suburban Brimbank, Boroondara and Monash. There was similarly strong growth outside the city's boundaries. Geelong and the Surf Coast soared by almost 4000, Ballarat and Bendigo by more than 2000 each, and towns from Mildura to Colac and Bairnsdale shared in the growth.

Nationally, the figures show the revival of serious growth in Sydney, where the population rose by 85,394 to top 4.5 million. Five years before, Sydney had fallen to fourth in growth behind Perth and Brisbane, its population rising just 23,374 as the young deserted a city where they could not afford a home.



Premier John Brumby last night defended projections of Victoria's population growth, saying it should be seen in the context of a growing economy.

''Victoria has dealt with such population growth before … and emerged a more productive, sustainable and liveable state because of it - like when Melbourne's population doubled in the postwar boom,'' he told a cities conference.

''While long-term projections are notoriously volatile, we can reasonably expect that economic growth will outstrip population growth.''

Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday reiterated his support for population growth. ''The answer isn't to stop growing, it's to grow differently'', he told a conference in Brisbane.

Demographer Bernald Salt told the same conference Australia needed to increase its population to avoid becoming an invasion target. ''We have 22 million people in charge of the resources of an entire continent,'' he said. ''There are security issues there.''

The National Farmers Federation called for tax breaks to get people to move to country towns.

Warrnambool VIC - Energy boom fuels population growth Source: The Standard 03 Apr, 2010

With its population tipped to hit 50,000 in the next 20 years, Warrnambool is set to become the fastest growing regional city in Victoria.

The latest Bureau of Statistics data shows the city reached 33,374 by the end of last year - a rise of 1.7 per cent since 2004. The biggest growth spurt was in the past 12 months.

Port Fairy is also booming with a 1.8 per cent growth in the past 12 months to 11,234 while Corangamite South rose 1.4 per cent to 7943 people.

Warrnambool's chief executive officer Bruce Anson said Warrnambool's forecast growth was equivalent to adding the cities of Portland and Hamilton in the next 20 years.

Energy and resource industries in the south-west are helping the growth spurt with more than $8 billion being invested in gas-fired power stations, wind energy and timber harvesting, with the majority of this investment being within 40 minutes of the city.

Mr Anson said it was anticipated that more than 2500 construction workers would be in the sub-region within the next 12 months, leading to significant growth in the permanent workforce.

"In an effort to ensure there is adequate housing, council will spend $8.7 million on developing infrastructure like roads, drains and footpaths in the growth areas of north east Warrnambool and Dennington in the next four years," Mr Anson said.

Warrnambool City Council will allocate $1.1 million on growth infrastructure in these areas in its 2010/11 budget.



Geelong, Surf Coast attract record population growth Source: Geelong Advertiser April 2, 2010

GEELONG and the Surf Coast Shire are leading the state in population growth.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show Geelong grew by 4000 people for the 12 months to June 2009 - the highest population growth of any local government area.

The figure takes the municipality's population to more than 214,000.

The ABS said the Surf Coast Shire grew at a rate of 3.9 per cent in the same time - the highest rate of growth in regional Victoria.

The shire has averaged an annual growth rate of 3.06 per cent for the past 15 years.

The 800 new residents means the shire's population is now just over 20,000.

The ABS figures showed the continued growth in regional centres like Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo and the popularity of seachange destinations like Torquay, Jan Juc and Lorne.

The figures also show Western Plains Shire based around Bannockburn is experiencing a mini-boom with a 2.9 per cent growth rate, making it the third fastest growing municipality in regional Victoria.

Surf Coast Shire Mayor Libby Coker said the figures showed what the shire was already was well aware of.

Cr Coker warned the growth put pressure on councils.

"The Torquay and Jan Juc areas have been growing for the past decade," she said.

"These figures show that we have things that are extremely appealing to people who want to live in a coastal environment with a relaxed, rural feel and still be in close proximity to Melbourne,' she said.

Cr Coker said the shire had to balance the challenges of population growth.

"What these figures do is give us the ability to go to governments to say we need to plan and prepare for this growth," she said.

"Already this is happening with the new civic and community precinct, plans for a new primary school and the establishment of a P-12 college.

"But these challenges are ongoing."

Cr Coker said the Surf Coast Shire was also encouraging people to look at Winchelsea as an attractive and affordable alternative.

VIC - Ballarat population growth pips Geelong and Bendigo Source: The Courier 31 Mar, 2010 BALLARAT'S population is booming.

The city's population grew at a faster rate than its regional rivals Bendigo and Geelong, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The data shows Ballarat's population jumped 2.3 per cent to 94,088 in the 12 months to June 30, 2009.



That is an increase of 2073 people on the previous 12-month period.

In comparison, Bendigo's population rose two per cent to 89,995 and Geelong's grew by 1.8 per cent to 175,803.

The figures are based on the ABS Regional Population Growth document, which contains estimates of the resident population of Australia for June 30 of each year from 2001 to 2009.

City of Ballarat chief executive officer Anthony Schink said Ballarat had a lot to offer and it is no surprise more people are deciding to call the city home.

"What it shows is that Ballarat is one of Victoria's most successful regional cities and certainly one of Victoria's most livable regional cities,'' he said.

"Ballarat is very affordable, has a very diverse economy, lots of different employment opportunities and they will grow as the city grows.

"Strategically we're located in good proximity to Melbourne and ... Ballarat is also a great gateway to the rest of the region.''

Mr Schink said Ballarat had excellent arts, culture and recreation amenities, as well as outstanding services such as health and education.

He said council would continue to spend on infrastructure to accommodate those expected to move here in the future.

"Our projections in terms of the Ballarat population are between 118,000 and 130,000 by the year 2026,'' Mr Schink said.

"We've been planning for that for some time."

WA - Gillard advises jobless to look to the west Source: Sydney Morning Herald March 31, 2010

GO WEST, advised Julia Gillard, in a safety vest and steel-capped boots, at the construction site of Australia's largest resources project, about 20 minutes flying-time off the coast of the Pilbara.

The Deputy Prime Minister has been in Western Australia this week, meeting industry chiefs and touring the state's booming liquefied natural gas developments.

But the benefits of those projects would not concentrate solely in the west, Ms Gillard said, suggesting that those down on their luck in places like Sydney and Melbourne might think about becoming involved.

''As we move from the global financial crisis into economic recovery we are expecting that recovery to be different in different parts of the country,'' Ms Gillard said yesterday.

Some areas still needed help.

''We believe part of that is about encouraging labour mobility, talking to people about opportunities in other parts of the nation.''

The point was already being driven home by local job co-ordinators. ''They are there talking about local job opportunities but they can also be there making sure people understand the opportunities around the nation,'' she said.

Ms Gillard's tour yesterday took her to about $50 billion worth of LNG projects. First visit was the $43 billion Gorgon development, in the early stages of construction on Barrow Island, about 70 kilometres off the Pilbara Coast.



Barrow has been home to a commercial oil operation for about 40 years. But at the moment it takes some imagination to grasp how the island, a nondescript splodge of scrub and red dirt in the Indian Ocean, will house the world's most sophisticated LNG site by 2014.

From the ocean floor, gas will be pumped 180 kilometres to the island, where it will be converted to liquid, impurities removed, pumped underground, and then shipped to Asia.

There is little there now but shrink-wrapped housing blocks, and tractors levelling ground as an early downpayment on the building to come. But, as Chevron Australia's managing director, Roy Krzywosinski, said after showing Ms Gillard around, the project has already committed $7 billion worth of contracts since it was opened in September. And economic modelling predicts a $30 billion boost to the Australian economy.

Chatting to construction workers on the island, Ms Gillard was suitably impressed. She commented on the varied accents of those she met - Welsh like her father in one instance, proud Scottish in another.

She also met workers at Woodside's Pluto project, recently the venue of illegal strike action. Ms Gillard, who lunched with the company's chief executive, Don Voelte, said one worker raised the industrial action with her.

''I had the same conversation with him as I've had publicly, which is the rules are the rules and you've got to stick by them.''

At Barrow Ms Gillard announced $350,000 in funding to help train engineers.

Homes won't meet WA demand Source: PerthNow March 30, 2010 A NEW home building recovery in WA is welcome but won't meet demand, forecasts the HIA. In its latest State Outlook report, the HIA confirmed that a recovery in new home building was underway but this was still forecast to fall well short of what was required to house Western Australia's growing population. The HIA's WA regional executive director, John Dastlik, today said that there was no doubt that a ``first stage new home building recovery is underway''. ``But the challenge lay with ensuring a strong, sustainable recovery beyond this year,'' he said. ``HIA is forecasting growth of 24 per cent in new housing starts in financial year 2009/10 to a level of nearly 22,700. ``That result is testament to the success of stimulatory monetary and fiscal policies in 2009 and higher confidence attributable to a rebounding resources sector.

``Through 2009/10, the growth in starts will occur in detached housing which is forecast to grow by 31 per cent, to 19,300 dwellings. ``The `Other Dwellings' sector, which covers all non-detached housing, is forecast to contract by 8 per cent to 3410 dwellings.'' Mr Dastlik said that to ensure a sustainable new home building recovery there needed to be further policy success in the form of reducing the myriad of supply side obstacles ``that needlessly constrain new home building''. ``Failure to achieve this at the same time as the stimulus effects from low interest rates, first-time buyers, and social housing provision are receding, will only add unnecessary upward pressure to existing home values and rents,'' he said.



``That would translate to higher interest rates than would otherwise be the case. ``A key challenge for policy makers is to ensure we make serious inroads into Australia's shortage of shelter. ``That requires rapid progress in removing the obstacles to boosting the WA's housing supply including in the areas of affordable land supply, skills shortages, and greater access to finance.'' Mr Dastlik said that at the same time as the new home building market had been recovering, so too had the renovations market. ``Total investment in renovations recovered in the second half of 2009 after falling by 1 per cent in 2008/09,'' he said. ``Stronger than expected labour market conditions and existing home price gains are driving a resurgence in renovation activity that is forecast to see the total worth of this sector increase by 6 per cent in 2009/10 to $6.15 billion.'' Total investment in renovations is forecast to increase by 14 per cent over the three year period to 2011/12, reaching a worth of $5.27 billion.

Australian immigration leads to booming population in Perth Source: Global Visas April 01 2010

Predictions of a boom in Australia's population have started to materialise as new statistics into Australia immigration trends are released

Perth is the surprise leader of Australian population growth, according to new data. The Western Australian metropolis grew by 3.2% in 2008-09, making it the fastest growing of any metropolis in Australia. Darwin, in Northern Australia, was a close second at 3.1%. Regional Population Growth, Australia 2008-09 showed that Perth, a 12.7 square kilometre municipality, had 12.8% more residents than the year before. The main reason for Perth’s growth is more people moving to Australia, with a record number of Australian visas being issued to people who have settled in the metropolis. Natural increase and interstate migration are the second and third reasons for the increase in Perth’s population. The City of Perth - encompassing the CBD, East and West Perth and Northbridge – has been named the fastest growing local authority area in Australia, which analysts say is a sign that urban consolidation has now taken effect. Western Australia has grown faster than any other Australian state or territory, despite the larger cities of Sydney and Melbourne being located on the other side of the country. Outside the state capital, the coastal municipalities of Capel (6%) and Mandurah (5.1%) were the fastest growing non-capital local authorities in Australia.

http://www.globalvisas.com/australia_visas/move_to_australia.html

http://www.globalvisas.com/countries/australia_visas.html



Qld may need second capital: Bligh Source:AAP March 30, 2010 Premier Anna Bligh says Queensland may need a second capital city to ease pressure on the crowded southeast.

She's told a growth management summit that regional areas will be critical in dealing with Queensland's incredible rate of expansion.

"Is it time to identify one of our regional cities, Townsville for example, to become the equivalent of a second capital city? A rival for Brisbane, in terms of economic, cultural and social opportunities," she told the summit in Brisbane.

"A city the size of Darwin moves to Queensland every year, and 70 per cent of new arrivals settle in southeast Queensland.

"Surely then, part of our plan to better manage growth must lie outside of southeast Queensland, in regional Queensland."

The Bligh government is hosting the two-day summit as it strives to balance growth and development with lifestyle and other social issues.

The premier said many Queenslanders were deeply concerned about the impacts of population growth but said a population cap was not the answer.

"It would be very easy for all of us to say enough is enough, close the borders, halt immigration and cap the population," she said.

But she said new research, by University of Queensland Professor Martin Bell, showed that strategy would cost the state dearly.

"To cap our population at current levels, we would have to export almost 10,000 people every year for the next 40 years just to offset natural increase," she said.

"And we would have to consider draconian policies to make Queensland less attractive to new residents such as more expensive housing and the reintroduction of death duties."

Ms Bligh said the summit would need to focus on four key areas - greener communities, public transport and infrastructure, better planning and approval processes, and stronger regional growth.

While looking to the regions to accommodate new growth would be vital, so too would be clever urban development, the premier said.

"We could be thinking locally of 15-minute neighbourhoods - where everything you need to live, work and play is within 15 minutes walking distance," she said.

"Before the car, it's how communities evolved and in an era of climate change we should do it again."

She said she wanted to come out of the summit with a list of firm ideas about better balancing development, growth and social issues.

"Tomorrow's Queensland is for all of us to shape," she said.

Meanwhile, a study has found that couples without kids and single-person households are the new norm in the heart of Brisbane.

The trend has been revealed in a new study on population change in inner Brisbane from 1996 and projected to 2031.



The study was released on Tuesday, as the Queensland government convenes a summit on managing the state's growth.

It found inner Brisbane is set for considerable growth and will likely resemble the demographic makeup of inner Sydney and Melbourne over time.

"We need to learn from their experiences to ensure that Brisbane remains a better place to live," Treasurer Andrew Fraser said in a statement.

The study looked at Brisbane's CBD, and the inner areas of Bowen Hills, Dutton Park, East Brisbane, Fortitude Valley, Herston, Highgate Hill, Kangaroo Point, Kelvin Grove, Milton, New Farm, Newstead, Paddington, Red Hill, South Brisbane, Spring Hill, West End and Woolloongabba.

"In the last 15 years, inner Brisbane has become 'home', growing by more than 50 per cent to almost 100,000 people," Mr Fraser said.

"The big question is, how can we grow as an economy and as communities without destroying the very things that make us unique?

"These are issues Queenslanders need to consider as part of the Growth Management Summit."

Mr Fraser said 21st century Brisbane was following the trends as seen in other cities.

Inner Brisbane's population increasingly comprises people in their 20s and 30s, as well as those in their 50s.

"Lone-person and child-free households predominate, and while the concentration of the younger working age has been increasing, so too has that of older working aged people," Mr Fraser said.

The report, Inner Brisbane reinvents itself, found nearly 75 per cent of households in inner Brisbane were of one or two people in 2006, compared to about 55 per cent for the broader metropolitan area.

It said the number of flats, units and apartments had doubled, representing two-thirds of all dwellings in inner Brisbane.

On Monday, Premier Anna Bligh said she would like to see a national infrastructure plan, to operate alongside the South East Queensland Regional Plan and local council strategies.

"For a very long time the federal government in this country has not had a population policy, and state governments and local governments have had to try to plan outside of any certainty (about) population numbers," she told reporters in Brisbane.

"If we saw a population policy underpinned by a national infrastructure program that looked somewhere on the 10 to 20 year horizon, it would make the planning efforts by state and local governments that much easier and that much better."

QLD - Figures reveal growth areas Source: ABC Tropical North March 31, 2010 New figures show the Wide Bay-Burnett region continues to remain the fastest growing region outside of the south-east corner in Queensland.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released yesterday show between 2008 to 2009, the population jumped by 3.1 per cent to more than 280,000.

Several rural townships in the region bucked the trend with the population of Mundubbera, west of Maryborough, falling 0.8 per cent for the same period.



Growth in the Fraser Coast area is one of the largest in the state.

The Fraser Coast region increased by 3.6 per cent to more than 99,000 people for the same period.

Gold Coast

The latest population growth figures also show the northern Gold Coast continues to attract many of the city's new residents.

The ABS figures show the Gold Coast had an estimated population last year of just over 500,000.

The ABS found 515,000 people lived in the local government area in 2009 - that is up 3 per cent on the previous year.

The city's fastest growing area was Pimpama-Coomera which grew by 13 per cent when 1,100 new residents moved in.

Other areas which experienced rapid growth include Kingsholme-Upper Coomera which grew by almost 10 per cent, while Ormeau-Yatala's population increased by 9.5 per cent.

A total of 1,400 people moved into Southport in 2009 and that represented a population growth of 5 per cent.

Sunshine Coast

The latest regional population growth figures show the number of people living on the Sunshine Coast climbed by about 9,500 in a year.

According to the ABS, the region's population was 323,423 in June last year, that is up 3 per cent on June 2008.

Population growth within the Gympie Regional Council boundaries rose by 3.8 per cent in that period to 48,282.

The ABS says 69 per cent of Queensland's total growth was in the south-east, with an increase of 80,900 people.

Young workers

Meanwhile, the Mayor of the Whitsunday Regional Council says families and young workers need to be kept in north Queensland to support a thriving economy.

Discussions about population growth will continue in Brisbane today as part of the Government's growth summit.

Mike Brunker says while a large number of retirees are expected to move to the region, young workers need to be retained in the region to balance the community.

"When you have older communities they're on restricted incomes, you can't put the rates up too high, so that affects the people living there as well, so usually in those high age group areas you're lacking infrastructure because you just haven't got the capacity to pay for it," he said.

Councillor Brunker says there needs to be a mix of people in the state's north.

"Particularly in this region I think we're going to have the coastal areas of particularly Bowen and Whitsundays would be good for your senior people who want to retire but then of course you've got your high job growth areas like Mackay, like Abbot Point and Townsville with their service industries to the mining areas where we can create the jobs and have the young people there as well, so it's important that you get that mix," he said.



TAS - Population Growth Lagging Source: The Mercury March 31, 2010 TASMANIA'S population is growing at the slowest rate in the nation.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the population grew by 5400 to 503,300 last financial year.

The growth of 1.1 per cent was the slowest of any state or territory.

The fastest growth was in the Southern statistical division (1.5 per cent) followed by Greater Hobart (1.2 per cent), Mersey-Lyell (1.1 per cent) and Northern (0.7 per cent).

The bureau reported that Greater Hobart's share of the Tasmanian population had increased to 42.1 per cent during the past five years while falls were recorded in the Northern and Mersey-Lyell region.

Of local government areas, the fastest growth was in Brighton (3.9 per cent) and Latrobe (3 per cent).

Clarence experienced the largest (590 people) and was the fastest-growing city (1.2 per cent) followed by Devonport and Burnie.

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