Coastal areas around Australia are under threat from an environmental or community catastrophe from rapid population growth, a Local Government summit was told last month. With the baby boomers reaching retirement age and looking for coastal properties to live in, areas along the Australian coast are showing signs of great stress with populations rising rapidly.
The Sea Change Summit brought together CEOs from 27 high growth councils from across Australia. After discussing the issues, the summit recommended the forming of a national task force, the development of a ‘Sea Change Funding Program’, and better coordinated planning across the spheres of governments.
Coastal areas in Australia face the prospect of high growth with heavy demand for more roads, water and sewerage. Demand will also increase for public transport, health care and other services in these regions. The summit looked for coordinated regional plans by State Governments that provided greater certainty about the extent and rate of growth in sea change communities.
The summit was initiated by Maroochy Council CEO, Kelvin Spiller, who said there was a clear need for better planning for coastal growth areas. He said Local Governments in areas such as the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and other coastal regions were being pushed to the limit to meet the demands of unprecedented population growth.
“Baby boomers in particular are flocking to the coast in droves and moving to the sun, surf and sand,” he said. “If unplanned, it will create environmental and social damage. If governments fail to keep pace with this growth in demand, and it is not properly planned and managed, it could lead to a community catastrophe.
“At times, we think areas such as the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast are facing these pressures of growth in isolation, but there are at least another 30 councils around Australia that are experiencing the same sort of pressures.
“I believe there will be major benefits in these councils acting collectively to tackle these challenges. We are more likely to achieve our objectives by acting together than by attempting to deal with them separately.”
