General News
1 May, 2023
We are growing madly– 172,272 city residents
THE population of Cairns has surpassed the 170,000 mark at 172,272 but Townsville is still ahead with nearly 200,000 (198,577).
Cummings Economics has published a report based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated residential population figures for 2022.
“The Cairns wider region up to the Torres Strait and the Papua New Guinea border and west to the Gulf area and the Northern Territory border recorded at June 2022 as being at 299,400 and now will be the first region in northern Australia to pass over the 300,000 mark,” said Cummings Economics director Bill Cummings.
“The figures indicate that Cairns LGA (Local Government Area) staged a major post-COVID recovery in 2021- 22 adding 2900 in population (1.7 per cent growth) after plunging to a mere growth of 439 in 2020-21 due to COVID restrictions and well ahead of recent years of less than 1 per cent.
“Among the northern cities however, it was pipped in absolute growth by Townsville at 3062 (1.5 per cent growth) but Cairns led in percentage growth (1.7 per cent increase).”
Cairns is second behind Townsville and ahead of Mackay (125,162), Rockhampton (83,723) and Darwin (149,582).
“In terms of wider servicing regions, the Cairns Tropical (Far) North region also continued to consolidate its leading position with a growth of 4101 (to 299,408), Mr Cummings said.
The Far North was ahead of the Townsville region (266,804), Northern Territory (250,702), Central Queensland (245,264) and Mackay region (186,512). Douglas Shire grew by 248 people (two per cent) to 12,693, Cassowary Coast by 126 (0.43 per cent) to 29,651 and Yarrabah by 26 (one per cent) to 2624.
Cairns Regional Council planning, growth and sustainability director Ed Johnson said the council had started work on the Towards 2050 Growth Strategy, which factored in a population of up to 265,000 by 2050.”
“A key focus of the Towards 2050 Growth Strategy, which is expected to be completed at the end of 2024, is to accommodate population increases and identify growth opportunities,” he said.
“As such, these latest figures do not impact council’s strategic planning.”
Advance Cairns chief executive officer Jacinta Reddan said she was not surprised about the continued population growth.
“The continued diversification of the economy is fuelling an expansion across sectors, particularly in marine and health,” she said.
“Tourism will always remain a key sector for the region but this diversification brings about greater economic resilience and creates demand for different skills from trades through to highly skilled health professionals.
“We will continue to advocate for governments at all levels to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure (both hard and soft) is planned to accommodate this continued growth,” Ms Reddan said.
She said health was a priority
