Although not all coastal regions are growing and a few are even experiencing a decline in population (such as Port Pirie and Port Augusta in South Australia), overall population growth rates in coastal Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are consistently high in proportional and numerical terms (ABS 2004a, 2004b, 2007; Burnley and Murphy 2004). In fact, the rate of growth in many coastal LGAs is equivalent to or higher than that of metropolitan areas (ABS 2004a). In recent years, many LGAs have experienced growth rates in the range of 50% to 60% higher than the national average. For example, in the year to June 2004 the rate of growth in coastal LGAs was 2%, which is 60% higher than the national average growth rate of 1.2% (NSCT 2006).

Described in Australia as ‘the big shift’ (e.g. Salt 2004) or the ‘sea change’ phenomenon (e.g. Burnley and Murphy 2004; Smith and Doherty 2006), these rates are expected to continue for the next 10 to 15 years, driven in part due to the ‘baby boomer’ generation reaching retirement age and ‘by factors such as the rapid increase in house prices in capital cities and a desire by many people to seek a better lifestyle away from the congestion of the cities’ (NSCT 2006). Significantly, in Australia, this phenomenon is underpinned by fundamental social and economic changes which create significant planning challenges (Gurran et al 2005, 2006).

Australia’s coastal areas offer an attractive quality of life and an appealing environment for people to live. The movement to locations that offer leisure opportunities and an attractive environment is known internationally as ‘amenity migration’ (Gurran et al 2005). People are moving to these areas because of lifestyle considerations rather than to specifically improve their financial circumstances. Other factors influencing people’s decision to migrate, identified in the literature, are personal circumstances (e.g. social networks) coupled with cultural factors (e.g. perceptions about a particular place and sense of connection to ‘reference groups’ within it) (Stimson and Minnery 1998; Gurran et al 2005).

Population growth in Australian coastal areas is expected to continue for the foreseeable future due to several factors, including (Gurran et al 2006):

The growing number of people making the move to coastal communities for lifestyle reasons is now challenging traditional theories that people relocate mainly for economic considerations – which has generated most previous migrations. Moreover, the migration is not to a single destination, but to a large number of smaller and scattered destinations making it difficult or impossible for government to meet the infrastructure and service expectations and demands of this expanding population.

Many of Australia’s coastal areas are experiencing not only unprecedented population growth, but they are also attempting to deal with a rapid growth in tourism. Tourism is predicted to become our largest export earner in the next couple of years – and on many estimates will increase in revenue by 50% by the year 2020. It will be the coastal LGAs that bear the brunt of the impact of this growth. Beyond the pressures of amenity migration, tourism places additional demands on coastal communities through, for example:

Obviously, tourism brings an economic benefit to local commercial operators and helps to generate employment opportunities in a region. But, while visitors generate revenue for local economies, they do not contribute to the cost of public infrastructure they use, such as roads, water, sewerage treatment, waste collection and recreation facilities. There is simply no mechanism for capturing tourism expenditure as a contribution to these services. Whenever anybody mentions something as radical as a bed tax, or a local tourism levy, or some other means of generating revenue to provide the infrastructure that is needed by visitors, there is an outcry from the tourism industry. So, the burden of expanding and maintaining infrastructure to meet the increasing demands of Australia’s second biggest industry inevitably falls on local ratepayers. This is just one example of the issues affecting local government financing, which is the subject of the recent report by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration on ‘Rates and Taxes: A Fair Share for Responsible Local Government’ (Commonwealth of Australia 2003). The report makes the case that local government is under-resourced and is not achieving a fair share of taxation revenue. In addition, the more recent NSCT ‘Meeting the Sea Change Challenge’ study (Gurran et al 2005, 2006) and the State of Environment paper on ‘Local Government in environment and heritage management’ (Wild River 2006) also identify infrastructure shortfalls and lack of capacity to fund them through existing funding sources as critical issues impacting on coastal councils.

In 2004, it is estimated that domestic and international visitors spent about $20 billion purely on recreation and tourism activities directly involving coastal and ocean ecosystems (DEWR 2006). Tourism therefore is generating enormous revenue for State and Federal Governments (e.g. capital gains tax, GST and stamp duty) but this revenue is not flowing through to local government authorities, which are bearing most of the financial burden of tourism. For example, the national accounts for 2002- 2003 show that total tourism consumption from both domestic and international tourism in that year amounted to more than $73 billion dollars (ABS 2004b). GST revenues to the States and Territories generated by that expenditure was around $6.7 billion. But the local government share of that taxation revenue is virtually nothing. The money generated by tourism is not being spent on maintaining the assets, so that eventually, of course, this will be counterproductive. How many tourists will want to revisit an area where the environment is trashed, traffic is at a standstill, the local water or sewerage systems are failing, and the social indicators are declining?

The motivating factors influencing this ‘sea change’ phenomenon have led to the emergence of considerable diversity in the types of communities developing in coastal regions around Australia, each with their own particular problems and needs. For example, five different profiles of coastal communities outside the Australian capital cities are (Gurran et al 2005; ABS 2004b):

Moreover, Curran et al (2005) argue that the sea change phenomenon impacting on these diverse community types does not necessarily lead to sustainable economic growth or improved socio-economic outcomes for local populations. The growth in coastal communities is associated predominantly with the creation of new jobs in lower paid occupational categories within the retail, restaurants, tourism and care-giving sectors. Such sectoral jobs are commonly part-time and many may be subject to seasonal fluctuations. Moreover, Australian coastal communities outside the capital cities have the highest proportion of low-income households, the highest proportion of families receiving income support benefits, the highest median age and highest ‘elderly dependency’ of Australia (Curran et al 2005). Thus, coastal communities are experiencing significant pressures not only on their social identity and character but also on their economic and environmental sustainability.

Many coastal councils have not anticipated this substantive and rapid growth in their planning and now find they do not have the human or financial resources to deal with the continuous increase in demand for infrastructure (such as roads, mains water supply, sewerage and power) or for essential services (such as public transport, health care, emergency services and education facilities) (NSCT 2006). This is a national issue requiring the urgent support and cooperation of both State and Federal Governments in identifying solutions to the complex challenges associated with coastal growth.