Future Tasmania Forum: Demographer reveals Tasmania’s path to prosperity is to pump up the population

Tasmania needs to be doing one thing at a higher rate to ensure its future prosperity, according to leading demographer Bernard Salt.

TASMANIA should ramp up interstate and overseas migration and attract young adults to achieve optimum population growth, leading demographer Bernard Salt says.

A special guest at Thursday’s Mercury Future Tasmania event at Wrest Point, Mr Salt said the annual state population growth target should be 1 per cent.

He described this as striking a balance between sustainability and opportunity.

In research commissioned by the Mercury, Mr Salt found Tasmania’s population had increased by 8 per cent in the past 12 years but was predicted to rise by just 5 per cent over the next 12.

Mr Salt said the aim for this predicted growth, which represented a less than 0.5 per cent annual increase, should be for it to more than double.

“The state needs to [gain] about 5500 people per year to achieve a 1 per cent per year population growth rate,’’ he said.

The State Government has a population target of 650,000 by 2050.

Bernard Salt delivers his Future Tasmanian talk. Picture: ZAK SIMMONDS

Mr Salt said Tasmania suffered from a “tyranny of proximity” to Melbourne, in which it lost a number of young people to that city.

The state therefore needed to do more to attract and retain 20 to 40-year-olds, he said.

The demographer said Tasmania needed to assert its sovereignty and “leapfrog” Melbourne by establishing international links.

This could be achieved through a vision for international flights by next year under the Hobart City Deal.

He said the state needed to connect directly with destinations like Auckland, Denpasar and Singapore like other international airports around the country did.

MORE FUTURE TASMANIA:

WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE GOT HERE ... BUT WE NEED A RETHINK

THE BIG TASSIE PROJECTS THAT WILL DRIVE JOBS FOR YEARS

EMBRACE OUR SMALL SIZE AND LEAD THE PACK

MELBOURNE BAD FOR TASSIE - BUT COULD BE OUR SAVIOUR

Mr Salt also said increased sovereignty could be achieved through other measures, such as the state securing its own AFL team.

Mr Salt reiterated his views about Tasmania embracing its ageing population trajectory and using it as an advantage.

He floated the idea of a showcase of what made Tasmania an attractive place to live — a so-called festival of sustainable living.

“You could sell your house in Mount Waverley that you bought in 1975 for $50,000 that’s now worth $1.8 million or $1.9 million,’’ he said.

“You could sell up and move to Tasmania, to a lifestyle location with good services, good culture, good food and good connectivity.”

Mr Salt also said more could be done to celebrate local entrepreneurship, especially when it involved young adults, suggesting the establishment of an award for those aged under 30.