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ABC News: Population pressures in coastal towns

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Crowded beach with mountains in background
ABC News: Population pressures in coastal towns

SUBJECTS:  Geography

YEARS:  7–8


Stunning beaches and tourist-filled coastal towns are some of Australia's most important assets.

But how do seasonal fluctuations in population affect these coastal communities?

This clip focuses on a new push by the National Sea Change Taskforce to have visitor numbers properly counted in the next census, so that development in these towns can be planned, managed and appropriately funded.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Imagine that you are holidaying in a coastal town. In what way will your visit have an impact on the town? Consider both the costs and benefits of your visit from the perspective of local residents.
  2. 2.A study has found that the population of coastal communities rises dramatically during busy periods. What does Alan Stokes from the National Sea Change Taskforce identify as the problem with the way that Australia's 36,000 km of coastline is currently managed? According to Independent MP Rob Oakeshott, how does inadequate governance and resourcing put pressure on coastal areas?
  3. 3.The population of coastal areas is estimated to rise by up to 25 per cent on weekends and holidays, leading to an increase in demand for goods and services. Which coastal communities have you visited? Make a list of local resources that you used during your visit. What's the effect on resourcing if visitor numbers are not counted in the census?
  4. 4.A plan to track and count fluctuating visitor numbers in coastal communities using mobile phone data is being developed. What technology is involved in this process? Develop a flow chart demonstrating how this data might be collected from a mobile phone and then transferred to a data collection agency such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics.


Date of broadcast: 25 Mar 2013


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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