30 Jun 2022
Words Christine Retschlag Informer 103

The Great Regional Migration

Numerous songwriters over the ages have extolled the virtues of heading west, where there’s not only apparently an abundance of open air but plenty of blue skies. Opportunity? It’s there in spades. But it took a global pandemic to nudge Australians away from the coastline and spin towards the setting sun.

Britain’s The Pet Shop Boys and America’s The Village People both had a bash at crooning “Go West”, luring us with the lyrics that “life is peaceful there”. Our own true-blue Aussie boys James Reyne and James Blundell informed us in their 1992 hit song “Way Out West” that they were “headed out west for a brand-new life” promising it would be a change from “working from nine to five”. And somehow, those tunes stuck, languishing dormant until the timing was just right. That timing, it appears, is now.

In the latest Regional Movers Index – a partnership between the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) – RAI Chief Economist Dr Kim Houghton cites a 15 per cent average rise in quarterly migration from capitals to the regions during 2020 and 2021.

“At the same time, more people who have been living in regional Australia have chosen to stay there,” Dr Houghton says.

“With two years of the Index we can now clearly see the positive impact that COVID has had on people seeking a regional lifestyle. It is particularly exciting that many of the smaller regions showing high rates of growth are inland towns.

Leading Australian social demographer Bernard Salt says in the 30 years pre-COVID, Australians were embracing not only cheap international airfares but their “colonial” pasts by travelling overseas in droves.

“It looks like the pandemic is changing some long-established movement paths, which is a good sign for more balanced population growth across Australia in future.” 

“The pandemic was a great control/alt/delete moment for Australians. People have rethought where they are in life and the humdrum of where they were taking their leisure,” he says.

“In addition, with the amount of security and COVID testing and the ripple effect of war in Ukraine on the edge of Europe, the whole idea of going west within Australia suddenly makes sense to cashed-up, freed-up, aspirational holiday makers. 

“Given the opportunity, Australians always thought it was best to go overseas because it just had more cache. Part of the pleasure was to show off to all of your friends. 

“Now there is something exotic about Australia’s interior with its red and blue colour schemes. You’ve got true-blue Aussies wearing a corked hat who are not in fancy dress, it’s their real lifestyle.”

“It is rich and it is engaging. It’s that exotica of remote, rural and far-away Australia and there is a lot yet to be explored.”

Even large hospitality investors such as the Mulpha Group are turning their attention towards the regions.

Mulpha Australia Managing Director Greg Shaw says while the bulk of their portfolio remains along the coast, they are also investing in destinations such as the Hunter Valley with boutique resorts and cottages.

“We think this trend that has emerged throughout COVID is not a short-term trend. There is clearly change in some fundamentals in these markets,” he says.

“Quite often the pricing is not cheap if you are looking at ways the properties are being run at the moment, but sometimes it is about unlocking incremental value and the large asset of land that is under-utilised.

“Pricing is at historic highs but it doesn’t mean there aren’t good opportunities out there if you think a bit more creatively.”

Tourism Australia, which normally reserves its advertising big bucks for better bangs overseas, has also been setting its sights on the western horizon, with campaigns urging Aussies themselves to “Holiday Here This Year. 

Who better than likeable celebrity couple Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster-Blake to entice Aussies to “give the gift of travel” and see Australia “the best giftshop in the world” in a visual campaign which featured a diverse offering from all states and territories. 

“We were pleased to see that, when given the opportunity to explore their own country Australians jumped in feet first. According to the National Visitor Surveys from April and May last year, overnight trip expenditure was up compared to the same months pre-COVID,” Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison says.

“Unfortunately, various domestic travel restrictions halted that momentum, but we have since taken big steps forward with all states and territories now open for interstate travel, along with the welcome return of international tourists.

“After falling in love with our own backyard during the pandemic we hope Australians continue to travel domestically.” 

In April, Lonely Planet ranked Australia’s 20 best travel experiences, of which only three were within cooee of a capital city, with the remainder ranging from the obvious regional choices of Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef, to the less obvious such as Warrumbungle Dark Sky Park in New South Wales, Wilsons Promontory in Victoria and Wineglass Bay in Tasmania. 

And accommodation owners and operators are set to continue to reap the benefits of this regional renaissance. In an interview with the ABC last year, population forecaster Andrew Rossiter says pre-COVID, regional Australia’s share of national population has been in decline for more than 20 years.

“The key takeaway here is that the population grew in all 32 major regional cities, which is fundamental to supporting regional growth across Australia,” he says.

Meanwhile The Demographics Group data scientist Hari Hara Priya Kannan recently told The Australian that the “big question” was whether the “extraordinary population movements of 2020/21” would be retained or reversed once the nation recovered from the pandemic.

“In some ways the coming of the coronavirus has triggered an even greater engagement by lifestyle-seeking Australians with the regions and has alleviated some of the congestion of inner-city living,” she says.

“In either case, the outlook is for recovery during 2022 with rising demand for property, lifestyle and the Aussie way of life.” 

For accommodation industry operators west of the capitals, and to quote Reyne and Blundell, at last they get the feeling that they’re really alive.

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