Cities feel squeeze from new arrivals

CANBERRA - Australian cities are bursting at the seams, adding more than 310,000 people to the state capitals last year, blowing out their boundaries with new housing developments and cramming high-density units into any inner-city land that becomes available.

For Melbourne, that meant adding an extra 93,500 people - equivalent to dumping a city bigger than Palmerston North on its borders in a year, and averaging almost 1800 new arrivals a week, bringing its total to 3.9 million.

In Sydney, more than 1600 people a week flocked to Australia's biggest city, pushing its population up by 84,500 people to 4.5 million.

These new figures, released yesterday by the Bureau of Statistics, have added to increasing fears for the ability of the nation to cope with growth that is estimated to push the population from almost 22 million last year to about 36 million by 2050.

Already Queensland, the second-fastest growing state, is considering creating a rival for Brisbane on its northern coast to ease the crush of growth in the southeastern triangle enclosing the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

Premier Anna Bligh told a population summit in Brisbane this week that a city the size of Darwin moved to Queensland every year, with 70 per cent of new arrivals settling in the southeast.

"Is it time to identify one of our regional centres, 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 said.

Transport, road, housing and other services are under growing pressure in the major cities, where population density has reached as high as 8700 people per sq km in Sydney, and 7800 per sq km in Melbourne.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned this week that Australia risked falling into the "trap of its own prosperity", its economy held back by infrastructure shortages and congestion clogging its main cities.

Rudd's Labor Government has pumped billions of dollars into roads, rail, schools and other public works as part of the economic stimulus package that helped push Australia through the global financial crisis.

It has also promised an investment programme involving about 50,000 construction projects and development of major rail, road, port, education and high-speed broadband networks.

A new body, Infrastructure Australia, has made a nationwide audit to identify a priority list for investment. A key will be affordable housing, heavily subsidised by Canberra, to ease demand that despite interest rate rises continues to push up house prices, inflate rents, and lock millions out of the market.

Market analyst RP Data-Rismark's latest house price index yesterday reported that despite a series of interest rate rises the prices of houses in capital cities rose 12.7 per cent in the past year, pushing the national median to A$455,000 ($586,000).

Treasurer Wayne Swan told the population summit that Australia had to think carefully about its future: "I should make very clear at the outset that I don't support growth for growth's sake, whether that's population growth or economic growth.

The new statistics show Australia has growing pains in its major cities and large towns, and in many coastal areas which recorded some of the strongest population growth outside of capital cities.

Perth was the fastest-growing city, expanding by 3.2 per cent to add more than 52,000 people to push its population to 1.65 million.

Brisbane's population grew by 52,100 to 2 million. Adding in Moreton Bay and the Sunshine and Gold coasts, the southeast's population soared by 59,600, to 2.26 million.

Adelaide grew by 14,900 to 1.18 million, Canberra by 5869 to 351,868, Hobart by 2568 to 212,019, and Darwin by 3733 to 124,760.

ON THE UP
* Sydney: 4.5m
* Melbourne: 3.9m
* Brisbane: 2m
* Perth: 1.65m
* Adelaide: 1.18m
* Canberra: 351,868
* Hobart: 212,019
* Darwin: 124,760