7.3 THE HUNTER

BUILDING ON A DIVERSIFYING & GROWING ECONOMY

- The Hunter region covers an area of 31,000 square kilometres and includes population centres such as Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Cessnock, Foster, Muswellbrook, Scone, Murrurundi, Gloucester and Dungog.

- Newcastle is the State's second-largest urban centre and port outside Sydney and contains just under half the Hunter region's population.

- The region provides around 33 per cent of the State's exports and Newcastle has the world's largest coal export port. Its key industries include mining, agriculture, wine production, tourism and the equine sector.

- The Hunter's economic base is rapidly diversifying, shifting from reliance on traditional primary and secondary industries to a wide range of service industries.

- The New South Wales Government is encouraging this diversification together with job growth, investment and economic development in the region. A consortium has been chosen to build a third coal loader and the region now has an internationally recognised defence and aerospace cluster.

- Population projections for the Hunter indicate an increase of some 50,100 people, or 8.2 per cent, between 2006 and 2016. This increase is not expected to be uniform across age groups with:

• the population aged 0-14 years falling by 7.1 per cent

• the population aged 15-64 years increasing by 5.9 per cent

• the population aged over 65 years increasing by 35.9 per cent

- The Draft Lower Hunter Regional Strategy applies to the five local government areas of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Maitland and Cessnock. The Draft Regional Strategy assumes that the population in the lower Hunter will increase by 125,000 people between 2006 and 2031.

- Within this period it is expected that housing demand will be up to 95,000 new dwellings by 2031, with up to 50 per cent in existing zoned areas; and that 50,000 new jobs will be created over the life of the Strategy.

SOURCE: NEW SOUTH WALES STATE AND REGIONAL POPULATION PROJECTIONS 2001 - 2051, 2005, TRANSPORT AND POPULATION DATA CENTRE

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