Urban and regional change in Australia: an empirical introduction

The distribution of Australian population has changed in recent years, and preliminary analysis has interpreted that change as consistent with North American experience. That interpretation involved an understanding of population change associated with climate factors, and a restructuring of industry which favoured new sectors in new locations. To explore patterns in Australian population change, shares of national population in each state for the period 1971 - 1981 were analysed. That information showed the shift in population within the nation has been small, though a group of adjoining states have all lost population. To explore the extent to which that shift has been reflected in shifts in economic activity, data on private investment (especially construction expenditure on offices, factories, and other buildings), together with a measure of banking activity, were analysed for the same states over the same time period. Results show there have been only small shifts towards population growth areas. These results are interpreted in part as a consequence of nonlocal multipliers and linkages back to established areas, but also as a reflection of the unique features of the Australian urban and regional system.