Australia Network - English Bites - Friday review

On this week's Friday review we're going to talk about housing, and how the areas where Australians live are changing.

We're going to talk about demographics - the characteristics of people who live in a certain area. Let's start by reviewing Tuesday's story about how for the first time people are moving from the east coast to the west coast.

DIANNE BAIN: Western Australia is experiencing a population shift that has not happened for years.

BERNARD SALT: The kick-along in the resources industry at the moment is attracting people back from the eastern seaboard to the west.
The net migration flow to Western Australia for the year ending 2004 was 1,300 people. Two years previous in the year ending June 2002, it was a net outflow of more than 4,000 people.

DIANNE BAIN: For a long time, WA has said goodbye to people intent on moving to Sydney or Melbourne in search of better pay, better jobs and a dose of excitement and glitz a bigger city has to offer. Bernard Salt is one of the nation's leading demographers. He says that many people were drawn to bigger cities for work.

We heard Bernard Salt talk about the movement of people to Western Australia. He's one of the nation's leading demographers. Remember that 'demographics' refers to the characteristics of a group of people- where and how people live, how old they are, whether they are married and so on. 'Demography' is the study of demographics - groups of people and how they change over time. And a 'demographer' is a person who studies demography. So Bernard Salt studies how and where people live. Watch a clip from the story again.

DIANNE BAIN: Western Australia is experiencing a population shift that has not happened for years.

Western Australia is experiencing a population shift. 'Population' refers to all the people who live in a certain area - it could be a region, a town, a state, a country or the whole world. To 'populate' is the verb that means to live in a place. And we also have the adjective 'populus' which means having full of people, having a lot of people living in a place. But Western Australia is experiencing a population 'shift' or movement. People are moving. In most years people move away from Western Australia, but recently, people have been moving to there. More people are going to live there. That's a change in demographics. Now we'll go to Tasmania and hear about the changing demographics there.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: Last year 2,700 new houses were built in Tasmania. The 36% increase in construction compared to two years ago has been partly fuelled by a population growth.

EVAN BOARDMAN, PLANNING INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA: It's also been driven by a change in housing demographics. There's less people living within individual houses.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: The rapid growth in residential development has been felt particularly strongly in outlying areas, like Sorell and the Southern Beaches.

CARMEL TORNIUS, SORELL MAYOR: For over a decade now we've had the dubious honour of being one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the State.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: Kingston has also been swept up in the subdivision sprawl.

DON HAZELL, KINGBOROUGH MAYOR: There's been a total explosion of growth in our municipality.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: And the Port Sorell township has expanded by about 1,000 people in the past four years.

MICHAEL GAFFNEY, LATROBE MAYOR: It's 15 minutes from the major centre, Devonport. It's beautiful - it's got a river estuary and the environment's great, it's just a nice, friendly place to live.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: The search for a sea change is part of the reason for the growth of certain suburbs.
But with that expansion come certain strains.

STEWART WARDLAW, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA: The rapid rate of residential development on the urban fringes has caused towns to be developed without proper water services, in some cases without sewage services, in some cases without adequate transport systems in place.

Tasmania has seen a very rapid rise in the number of new houses being built. Listen to the beginning of that clip again.

The increase has been partly 'fuelled', or caused, by a 'population growth'. A 'population growth' is an increase in the number of people living in a place. It's also been 'driven', or caused, by a change in housing demographics. 'Housing demographics' are the changes in housing of a population - how many people live in houses, how big the houses are, where they are located. He says 'there are less people living within individual houses'. That is a change in housing demographics. Fewer people are living in each house, and the population is getting bigger. So that means there are a lot more houses being built. Now listen to the rest of the clip. Listen for the types of areas where people can live.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: Kingston has also been swept up in the subdivision sprawl.

DON HAZELL, KINGBOROUGH MAYOR: There's been a total explosion of growth in our municipality.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: And the Port Sorell township has expanded by about 1,000 people in the past four years.

MICHAEL GAFFNEY, LATROBE MAYOR: It's 15 minutes from the major centre, Devonport. It's beautiful - it's got a river estuary and the environment's great, it's just a nice, friendly place to live.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: The search for a sea change is part of the reason for the growth of certain suburbs.

They mentioned subdivisions, municipalities, townships, and suburbs. 'Subdivisions' are large areas of land that have been divided into smaller blocks of land, for housing. A 'municipality' is a city or a town. A 'township' is a small town, and a 'suburb' is a housing area around a city. And you'll find all these demographic and housing words and much more on our English Bites website.