Skills Tasmania

West Coast Regional Profile

Part 1: Demographic and Social Profile of West Coast Localities (2006 Census Data)

Version 0.3


Table of Contents

Synopsis

Methodology

Industry Consultation List

Small Business Survey Respondents

Introduction

Snapshot of the West Coast Working Population

Social and Demographic Characteristics of West Coast Suburbs

Queenstown

Roseberry

Strahan

Zeehan

Population Projections

Snapshot

Labour Market Implications

Housing

Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)

Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)

Executive Summary

The West CoastMunicipality is unique. It is a remote area characterised by cold climatic conditions and proximity to world heritage listed national parks. The economics of the West Coast are built on a limited number of industries which include mining, aquaculture and tourism. The mining industry is approaching a boom and the demand for labour is becoming competitive. The aquaculture industry is not labour intensive and has reached a plateau. Tourism is a new and emerging industry and is characterised by seasonal labour and a casual workforce. The interaction between the environment, local demographics and industry changes gives rise to the need to develop a regional training demand profile that takes into consideration the aforementioned factors.

Localities

Tasmania’s West Coast consists of 5 localities, namely Queenstown, Strahan, Roseberry, Tullah and Zeehan. There were 5457 people living in the west coast municipality at the time of the 2001 census which is approximately 1.5 percent of the Tasmanian population.

Demographic Trends

The West Coast localities are characterised by bimodal population distributions. For Queenstown and Zeehan, approximately 50 percent of residents did not live on the West Coast five years ago. Similarly, for Strahan, Tullah and Roseberry approximately 25 percent did not live in the municipality five years ago.

When compared with Australian rates, the West Coast municipality has slightly more people aged under 0-14 years. Roseberry, Tullah and Zeehan also have significantly fewer people aged over 65 years when compared to the Australian rates.

There is also an increase trend for families to reside outside the West Coast municipality and the principle income earner to commute to the area for work.

Employment patterns also differed across the localities. In all localities the mining industry was important to regional economics. In Strahan aquaculture and accommodation were important industry employers. In Queenstown the government was also a significant employer in health and human services as well as education.

The socio economic status of the West Coast municipality is also bimodality distributed. On the one hand a proportion of the workforce earns high salaries, however there are also many unskilled people who are unemployed. On the SEIFA index of Economic Resources the West Coast ranks 35th in the state. However on the index of Education and Occupation the West Coast was the 8th lowest ranking municipality.

With regards to educational attainment, males were most likely to hold either a Certificate III or IV in Engineering Related Technologies or Hospitality services. Females, when compared with their male counterparts, were more likely to have no qualification. More females than males however held a degree level qualification.

The aforementioned trends converge to suggest that the West Coast region is characterised by a working population with young children. These families have traditionally resided in the area until children reach senior secondary school age. Families are then forced to move so children can attend high school. Alternatively if a major industry winds down, families move from the area to find work elsewhere. Increasingly families are choosing to live on the North West Coast and commute to the West Coast for employment. Older persons are also inclined to either retire in Queenstown/Strahan areas or move away from the West Coast. Most working people are employed in the mining industry; they are male and hold a certificate III or IV qualification. Females are less likely to be employed or they work part-time in the accommodation industry. Females are less likely to be vocationally trained than their male counterparts and more likely to hold a tertiary qualification.

Industry

The economy and employment in the region is dominated by mining, which is worth between $250 and $300 million per annum. Despite significant job losses over the last several years, over 30% of people are employed in the mining industry. Tourism is an emerging growth industry with over 170,000 visitors to the West Coast annually. Tourism brings approximately $46 million of revenue into the West Coast region and creates about 260 jobs. Fishing and aquaculture are strong, stable industries with still some potential for growth. Over 80% of all businesses on the West Coast are however micro businesses. They employ about one third of the total labour force.

Housing

A significant problem encountered on the West Coast is that people do not see it as a desirable place to live. For example, few people retire on the West Coast, as the rugged landscape, bad weather and lack of health facilities do not make it a preferred place for older people to live. Only Strahan (population 802) seems to appeal to a small number of people as a place to retire.

When compared with other localities house and land prices in Strahan are relatively high. This is in part due to Strahan’s coastal location and limited land available for purchase[1]. Furthermore, recent sewerage and water infrastructure service upgrades have further increased the land and house values of Strahan in comparison to the surrounding localities of Queenstown, Tullah, Roseberry and Zeehan. The latter West Coast localities have a surplus of land and houses available. However there is little demand for these properties, as mining towns do not have the aesthetic appeal when compared with, for example, the coastal proximity of Strahan.

Accessing capital for home building or other developments on the West Coast is difficult. Financial institutions will not provide mortgages for properties on the West Coast, thereby restricting the ability of people to purchase and/or further develop the housing stock. This is significant for small business development as well, as persons are restricted from accessing capital (by mortgaging property) to start up or expand small business in the area.

Skills and Training

Demographic analyses provided a snapshot of skills and training levels within West Coast localities and across the municipality. These data suggested that the region is characterised by a proportion of people trained in engineering related occupations. The demographic data also suggested there are many people without skills and training.

From an industry perspective, mining enterprises lose about 10-12 percent of their workforce each year. They lose employees to other mining operations in the start-up or growth phase, or alternatively people move to employment opportunities elsewhere in Tasmania. Employee separations are replaced by either contract labour or new recruits to the industry.

In the fishing and aquaculture industry training focuses on meeting legislative and regulatory requirements. In the wild fisheries industry, training beyond that required by legislation is non existent. This is in part due to employment arrangements whereby fishermen are paid on a contractual or ‘catch’ quota arrangement; because boats may operate from several different ports the labour force is highly mobile; and, a workplace culture which is non-supportive of training. Consultations suggested that the wild fisheries industry has a high accident and injury rate.

The Aquaculture industry provides extensive safety and other training. However these operations are not labour intensive and the west coast aquaculture workforce is small.

The accommodation, café and restaurant industry reported significant employee turnover of around 47 percent. This was due to seasonal fluctuations in accommodation demand, and a lack of training opportunities for food and beverage attendants and a younger more mobile workforce demographic. Unlike the wild fisheries industry, accommodation services are built around a culture of training. The current funding models for new apprenticeships and traineeships were reported by one employer to be working against the training culture of hospitality.

Training Demand

The Training Demand Profile for the West Coast Municipality for the 2006-07 financial years was estimated by participating employers and as follows (Table 1). This training demand was validated by Registered Training Organisations and New Apprenticeship Centres. Also the training demand for some Accommodation industry job roles (e.g. Food and Beverage Attendant) is dependant on funding models and a policy that is aligned with seasonal labour force patterns.

Table 1: Training Demand Profile

Mining
Certificate III Metalliferous Mining Operations (Underground) / 50-60
Certificate III Metalliferous Mining Operations (Processing) / 50
Certificate IV in Frontline Management / 12
Accommodation, Cafes & Restaurants
THH31502 Certificate III in Hospitality (Commercial Cookery) / 3
THH41302 Certificate IV in Hospitality (Commercial Cookery) / 8
THH33002 Certificate III in Hospitality (Operations) / 35
THT30902 Certificate III in Tourism (Guiding); THT40302
Certificate IV in Tourism (Guiding) / 3
THH33002 Certificate III in Hospitality (Operations) / 5
MEM30298 Certificate III in Engineering (Mechanical Trade) / 1
Fishing & Aquaculture
Regulatory based skill clusters / 25
Small Business
Require economic development interventions that drive the need for training. No specific training was identified.

Synopsis

Geographic, demographic and industry related factors converge to create a complex relationship between the demand and supply on labour in the West CoastMunicipality. The usual resident population of the West Coast includes a mixture of vocationally skilled miners, unemployed persons who benefit from low rents and families looking for economic prosperity. Increasingly however people are choosing to reside on the North West Coast and commute to their employment. These people are contract employees and have left the West Coast area because of a lack of infrastructure such as secondary colleges and poor quality housing. As people exit the area, the local council is left with an increasing financial burden to maintain depreciating infrastructure.

Older persons are also choosing to retire outside of the West Coast area. Whilst Strahan offers village lifestyle and Queenstown hospital facilities, the lack of low maintenance housing are reasons why people exit the West Coast area.

Working on the West Coast is also challenging. One mining company reported that professionally trained people stay for about 2 years. The remote lifestyle and poor quality infrastructure discourages people from remaining in the area. Similarly accommodation services report that isolation and a lack of training are reasons for people not choosing to stay on the West Coast.

Small to medium size businesses, however, are highly stable. They choose to reside on the West Coast for lifestyle and other reasons. These businesses do not however perceive a need for training or skill development. Most West Coast businesses are lifestyle micro-businesses and do not pursue economic development as an objective. They report that the external operating environment drives the need for business development, which in turn drives the need for skills development.

The economic cycles of the mining industry and seasonal nature of the tourism industry create unique workforce planning issues for businesses. Both industry sectors are exploring strategies that improve labour retention. These strategies are focused on skills and training, as well as career planning. Increasingly businesses are looking to up skill through skill cluster training rather than qualification based training. This trend was also reported by Registered Training Providers who are increasingly being asked to provide maintenance and industry up-skilling based training.

Methodology

The project methodology incorporated desktop research to identify the impact of economic and other factors on the West CoastMunicipality. This research methodology was also utilised to collate statistical information around the social and demographic characteristics of the region. Statistical data was sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2006 Usual Resident, Expanded Community Profile and Working Population datasets.

Government departments such as the Land Information Service provide house and land price sales for the West CoastMunicipality; and the Department of Economic Development provide mining, fishing and tourism industry data.

The University of Tasmania provide data on population datasets and analyses for the West CoastMunicipality.

Based on trends identified in the ABS 2006 Census, industry sectors that were important to the West CoastMunicipality were approached for information. Some of these consultations were face-to-face interviews and others telephone interviews. A technique known as snowballing was used, whereby industry representative are asked to provide the name of one other suitable person to contact for information about an industry.

Finally a brief survey was mailed to small businesses in the West CoastMunicipality. The response rate to this survey was 25 percent and follow-up telephone calls revealed that the West Coast Council was conducting a similar survey. However a 25 percent response rate is typical of mail surveys.

Industry Consultation List

Name / Organisation / Industry
Group Human Resources
Gina Gunn, Toni Brown, Juliet Casey, Greg Astell (GM Strahan Operations) / Federal Hotels and Resorts / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
John Kirwan / John Kirwan and Associates
Registered Training Organisation / Mining
Fishing & Aquaculture
Health
Simone Nielsen / Henty Gold / Mining
Bill Wells / Mersey Skills and Training / Small Business
Retail
Jeanette Barr / Manager ForestsForest Industry Council / Forestry
Mike Jack / TAFE Tasmania / Mining
Simone Gearman / The New Apprenticeships Specialists / Across all industries
Annette Vanbetelhem / Jobnet / Community Education
Small Business
David Owen / TASCOSS / Community Development
Partnerships to Jobs Project funded by Department of Economic Development
Daniel Leeson / Tourism Council of Tasmania / Tourism
Workplace Standards / Mining
Chris Fallon / The Department of Employment Science and Training (DEST) / Government
Fred Lijauco / Building and Construction Industry Training Board / Construction
Leigh Fannon / Land Information Service / Government
Tasmanian Industry Fishing Council / Wild Fishing
Aquaculture
James Guard / Seafood Training Tasmania / Wild Fishing
Aquaculture
David Milne / Australian Maritime College / Wild Fishing
Aquaculture
Jo-Anne O'Brien / West Coast Council,
Business Development Officer / Small business
Jim Manley / Cooper Mines / Mining
Andrew Platters / Polymetal Hellyer Mine / Mining

Small Business Survey Respondents

Cecil Hotel & Old Miners Cottages / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Anchordown / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Castaway Holiday apartments / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Orminston House / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Glenaire Apartment / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Gordon Gateway Chalet / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Chancellor Inn / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Greengate on Central / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Gold Rush Motor Inn / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Almac Drilling Pty Ltd / Mining
Back in a Flash Constructions / Building and Construction
BeauCastle Electrical / Building and Construction
Murphy’s Mowing & Maintenance / Building and Construction
Quarry Home Improvements / Building and Construction
Setori Engineering / Mining
The Coffee Stop / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
JJ’s Coffee Shoppe / Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
Dundas Extended Minerals / Retail
Roseberry Newsagency / Retail
Brett Gow Electrical / Retail
Country Homewares / Retail
Gumley’s Newsagency / Retail
Railway Express / Retail

Introduction

The following demographic profile of the West CoastMunicipality is based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2006 Census data[2], as well as population projection data from the University of Tasmania[3]. The objective of this section is to create an understanding of the social and population characteristics of the West Coast Local Government Area and to triangulate these data with business and training demand profiles.

Snapshot of the West Coast Working Population

Table 1 shows the employment by industry for working West Coast residents. Mining was the largest industry sector employing around 508 people, followed by Accommodation, Café and Restaurants which employed 353 people. Retail related industries employed 142 people, Education 141 people, Health Care and Social Assistanceservices 110 people and the Construction trades 107 people. Tables 2 and 3 show industry employment by age and gender. Males are most often employed in the mining sector and females in the Accommodation and Food Services industry sectors.

Tables 4through 5 show the occupations of people working in the West CoastMunicipality. The largest occupational group were Technicians and Trade Workers (395 people), Machinery Operators and Drivers (374 people) and Labourers (342 people). Males were most often employed in Technicians and Trade Workers (343 males), Machinery Operators and Drivers (362 males) and Labourers (155 males). Females were most often employed as Community and Personal Service workers (148 females).

Tables 6 and 7 show the marital status of the usual working population. There were 1698 married people and 1427 people who have never been married.

The employment status of West Coast usual residents is shown in Tables 8, 9 and 10. The majority of the labour force is employed full time (1299 people) and 583 people are employed part time. Further details of the working population are discussed in the section on the social and demographic characteristics of West Coast localities.

Tables 11 and 12 show the highest qualification gained. A certificate III and IV was the highest qualification for 699 people and Bachelors degree was held by 180 people. Both males and females most often held a certificate III & IV qualification (556 males and 143 females).

1

Table 1: Industry Employed By Age ( Person)