Geography12 Planning Sustainable Places: Challenges Facing Australia

Statistics about the population and components of change (births, deaths, migration) for Australia's capital cities and regions
Reference period : 2020-21 financial year

Released by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Through the lens: megatrends shaping our future identifies a range of demographic and disruptive megatrends that will shape the 21st century. The report is the first part of PIA’s Journey towards 50 million initiative, which aims to stimulate an informed national debate on the future needs of a changing population.

As can be seen from the words of Malthus, written over two centuries ago, people have long held concerns about the availability of global resources to meet the needs of a growing global population. Malthus was particularly concerned with potential food shortages arising from population growth, and this issue continues to be important today. However, the concern in modern times is also expressed in terms of other resources, such as fresh water, forests and fossil fuels, which under the pressure of population growth have come to be recognised as being in limited supply and in need of careful management if humans are to prosper.

Of increasing concern is the change in the age profile of the population which has seen a falling proportion of younger people and a growing proportion of older people. Projections, based on past and expected future trends in fertility, mortality, and net migration, show that with all plausible assumptions these trends will continue.

One of the defining features of geographic remoteness is that many services are less accessible. The General Social Survey 2006 (GSS 2006) provides data on the extent to which respondents to the survey had difficulty accessing services such as doctors, employment services, telecommunication services, Centrelink, banks and other financial institutions, disability services, family assistance offices or Medicare.

On average, Australians living in rural and remote areas have shorter lives, higher levels of disease and injury and poorer access to and use of health services, compared with people living in metropolitan areas. Poorer health outcomes in rural and remote areas may be due to multiple factors including lifestyle differences and a level of disadvantage related to education and employment opportunities, as well as access to health services.

Despite massive investment in public transport over the past few decades, cars remain the premier choice of transport for most Perth residents, particularly those on the fringes of the city where access to jobs, schools and hospitals still depend on driving.

Policy This policy sets out the principles and considerations which apply to planning for urban growth and settlements in Western Australia.