Towns and cities, such as Tamworth, Gunnedah and Armidale, in regional NSW need to start preparing for an influx of migration, demographer and social researcher Mark McCrindle said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr McCrindle was one of the 24 guest speakers at the Crime Prevention and Community Safety Conference in Gunnedah on Friday, November 24, for the final day of the major two-day event.
"We've just had the year of the biggest migration in history in terms of overseas migration," Mr McCrindle said.
"But the secondary flow of that is that people living in Sydney, as it gets more full and as the cost of housing rises, end up moving out of Sydney."
Australia's population grew by an additional 563,200 people in the year to March 2023, according to the latest Australian of Bureau Statistics (ABS).
Cost of living
Mr McCrindle said population growth is a "great opportunity" for economic growth, jobs growth, and infrastructure, but that it does need to be managed.
"Because if Gunnedah or Tamworth grows by an extra few hundred people more than was planned" Mr McCrindle said, then the cost of living will skyrocket and so will the housing crisis.
"So it's about ensuring the affordability, the livability, and the employability are all in the regions even as they grow."
The social researcher said the big risk is that those who sell their homes in Sydney, to buy in a regional area, bring with them "Sydney prices".
"And that does drive up the cost for locals. And locals haven't been able to compete with the capital city earnings and the capital city house prices," Mr McCrindle said.
The average cost of a house in Tamworth and Gunnedah is about $431,078 which is up 7 per cent in the previous 12 months, according to CoreLogic, in comparison to Sydney where the average cost for a home is currently about $1,381,045.
A sense of belonging
Mr McCrindle said there also needs to be "social cohesion" of people who either don't have long-term connections in a regional area because they have moved from interstate or overseas.
"We can't just have our old mindset of; 'you're not a local you haven't been here 20 years'," he said.
"We have a more dynamic community these days, we've got to make sure there's the belonging, that connection, and a sense of engagement."
Population growth is warranted, but we need to plan for the growth otherwise, Gunnedah or Tamworth will become the next Sydney
- Mark McCrindle
Living longer
And with an ageing population, there needs to be more awareness that more older people are living alone, Mr McCrindle said.
"If we're not providing community for those seniors, and connection and belonging and social support, then we're going to have challenges for them."
He said regional and metropolitan areas of Australia need to change mindsets around employment because people are living longer and healthier lives.
"Someone in their 60s is not winding down from a career," he said.
"Many are winding up to the next career to the next phase of life. And so we have to ensure there's not ageism, and that we're more diverse in our employment."
Youth opportunities
Mr McCrindle said the younger generation's awareness of problems, such as mental health, environmental issues, equity, diversity and place of community, are good signals in how they want to shape the future.
"We need to design solutions with young people to make sure they're involved and invested in owning the outcomes because they're the emerging leaders," he said.
"They can connect with their peers better than we can and they can see some of the problems before we see them."
Government support in the regions
Mr McCrindle said people in regional areas "like Gunnedah and Tamworth" feel a "sense of ownership over the community" and a sense of responsibility to build community, so it is important to support that.
"Whereas in a city, people will outsource that to the government or to those paid services," he said.
"But we have to make sure there is that support and funding at a government and bureaucratic level, to enable those provisions of services that local groups [in regional NSW] are so keen to provide."
Gunnedah council
Gunnedah councillor Kate McGrath is a "huge fan" of Sydney-based futurist Mark McCrindle, and said the conference is not just about "how do we stop the crime in Gunnedah" and other regions.
"It's more so around, how can we use that information, to look at how we're effectively meeting the needs of the community moving forward," Ms McGrath said.
"Where we're talking about community safety, that's not just the absence of crime, that's also people having their needs met, feeling connected, belonging, and really thriving in their communities."
