Slumping … it has been a decade of slow population growth in Sydney.

POPULATION growth in NSW has slumped to a five-year low, robbing the economy of momentum. The population rose by 1.1 per cent to 7.3 million last financial year but that rate of increase was below the national average and well down on the previous year.

Neighbourhoods along the Parramatta River in inner- and central-western Sydney had the fastest growing populations. But Melbourne continued to close the population gap on Sydney, thanks to the state’s sluggish growth overall.

Sydney’s population rose by almost 60,000 in the year to June, more than 15,000 less than 2009-10. Despite its smaller population, Melbourne added 7100 more people than Sydney in 2010-11. Melbourne’s population is now within 500,000 of Sydney’s and possible changes to the way the Bureau of Statistics calculates regional populations could close the gap even further. But the rate of population growth in Australia’s two biggest cities lagged well behind Perth, which grew at nearly twice Sydney’s rate.

High property prices, restrictive planning laws and lethargic economic growth have been blamed for a decade of relatively slow population growth in Sydney. A significant slowdown in the rate of overseas migration since 2008 is also a factor.

CommSec’s chief economist, Craig James, said population growth was a key driver of growth. ”Population is power,” he said. ”This is something that the NSW government is going to have to have a look at. If you don’t have people coming into the state you are not going to get the revenue growth you need.”

The NSW Treasurer, Mike Baird, blamed years of feeble population growth on Labor’s economic mismanagement. ”The government sees the importance of population growth for the state economy, which is part of the reason for the initiative on skilled migrants which we have announced,” he said.

Mr Baird said there had been encouraging growth momentum recently regardless of the sluggish population growth.

Canada Bay on the Parramatta River was the fastest-growing council area in NSW, followed by Camden, Parramatta and Auburn.

An economist at the Housing Industry Association, Harley Dale, attributed Canada Bay’s growth to the high number of medium-density flats built in recent years, coupled with its fairly easy access to the city, which had made it attractive to property buyers.

Many of the housing developments in Canada Bay have been built on old industrial sites and the bureau said this type of “infill development” was becoming more common in big cities. But Canada Bay ranked only the 23rd fastest growing council area in Australia. The top rate – 7.8 per cent – was recorded in Wyndham, an outer Melbourne suburb. Several neighbourhoods in Perth and mineral-rich regions of Western Australia also had rapid population growth.

Six of the 10 most densely populated neighbourhoods were in Sydney. The highest density – 8900 people per square kilometre – was in the inner-city suburbs of Surry Hills, Darlinghurst and Potts Point. The statistical division taking in Bondi and Bronte also had population densities among the highest in the country.

The bureau said Sydney makes up 63 per cent of the NSW population. The centre of population in the Sydney statistical district was Ermington.

Outside Sydney, parts of the Hunter and Orange experienced the fastest growth rates.

Do you ever wonder how the environment – the global ecosystem – will cope with the continuing growth in the world population plus the rapid economic development of China, India and various other ”emerging economies”? I do. And it’s not a comforting thought.

But now that reputable and highly orthodox outfit the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has attempted to think it through systematically. In its report Environmental Outlook to 2050, it projects existing socio-economic trends for 40 years, assuming no new policies to counter environmental problems.

It’s not possible to know what the future holds, of course, and such modelling – economic or scientific – is a highly imperfect way of making predictions. Even so, some idea is better than no idea. It’s possible the organisation’s projections are unduly pessimistic, but it’s just as likely they understate the problem because they don’t adequately capture the way various problems could interact and compound.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/human-cost-of-inaction-incalculable-20120320-1vhrv.html#ixzz1ph6zBmQl

In demand … skilled migrants. Photo: Louie Douvis

THE former premier Bob Carr once declared Sydney was full, but now the O’Farrell government wants to swing the door wide open to skilled business migrants and international students.

The government hopes to attract thousands of ”high-value” migrants and students to NSW as part of a strategy – to be launched today – to boost economic development.

The Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Stoner, said the government would simplify its sponsorship requirements for investors using 165 visas – for business people from overseas who are required to invest $750,000 to $1.5 million in Australia.

Calling for skilled business migrants and international students … NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell. Photo: Michel O’Sullivan

It would discuss with the Commonwealth the introduction of a new visa to make investing in NSW more attractive.

And it would ask the Commonwealth to reduce temporary residency rules, which require people to live in Australia for a set period. It also wants to make it easier for business migrants to extend their residency from four to eight years.

Under the strategy, the definition of investments would be extended to include Waratah Bonds and similar investments which the government hopes to use to help fund infrastructure in the state.

Mr Stoner said NSW would work with Victoria and the federal government to streamline visa processing and extend post-study work rights to international students to help them access a broader range of ”high-quality, low-risk” education and training providers.

Reducing red tape for international students to access quality training would provide an incentive for oversees students to study in Australia, the plan said.

The NSW government will press the federal government for a greater share of state-government sponsored visas to raise its share from 11 per cent this year – 2640 people – to as high as 30 per cent.

This would increase the annual intake of skilled migrants in NSW from 1750 in 2010-11 to 7200.

Mr Stoner said he wanted to better align occupations with skills shortages identified by industry.

“To boost economic activity in NSW, we would like the state’s allocation of state- and territory-sponsored skilled migrants increased to around 30 per cent, in line with our share of the economy and population,” Mr Stoner said.

“Bob Carr said Sydney is full, but it’s a city that has always been a magnet for people. We want the best and brightest from around the world to help fill skills shortages and turn our economy around.

”Regardless of the views Bob Carr held when he was NSW premier, we are keen to work co-operatively with the federal government, particularly [the] Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, to improve the current arrangements.”

Mr Stoner said ”high-value” migration had a critical role in improving the state’s economy and migrants could provide skills needed in Sydney and regional NSW.

”NSW is already the preferred Australian destination for the majority of long-stay business migrants, skilled migrants and international students, but there’s more we must do to realise the full economic and cultural benefits,” he said.

”Investor migration is also an increasingly important area of focus for NSW but has only been used to attract relatively few migrants to the state in the past.

”Business migrants, in particular, bring with them experience, international connections, entrepreneurial skills and capital to establish new businesses.”

The Premier, Barry O’Farrell, has long been an advocate for a ”big Australia” and has blamed poor planning by governments, not high immigration, for population pressures.

Before his election Mr O’Farrell rejected Mr Carr’s declaration in 2000 that Sydney was full. He said immigration and population growth would boost economic growth and infrastructure development.

A spokesman for Mr O’Farrell yesterday said he stood by those comments, made in February last year.

The chief executive of the NSW Business Chamber, Stephen Cartwright, yesterday said he supported the government’s push for more skilled migrants to boost the economy.

”NSW needs to become more active in making clear that the state welcomes skilled migrants, investor migrants and visitors undertaking international education,” he said.