Esperance population drop surprises Shire boss

Surprise was the Shire of Esperance leader’s reaction to the 2021 census results released on Tuesday, while the bosses of the Shires of Laverton and Leonora have welcomed population increases in the northern Goldfields.

Shire of Esperance president Ian Mickel said he was “very surprised” by the 2021 census recording a decline in the number of residents of the south-eastern coastal community.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said Esperance’s population dropped by 353 people between 2016 and 2021, to 13,883 residents in 2021 compared with 14,236 in 2016.

Cr Mickel said he was unsure if the issue was some people not completing the census, or whether there had been a significant change for another reason.

“I thought with the, you know, the housing shortage that we have in Esperance, and the worker shortage, that Esperance numbers would have been up significantly from the last census,” Cr Mickel said.

“But I would have thought there’s been significant growth by the number of people that I know that have come into Esperance over the last few years, and they’ve made Esperance their permanent home.”

Cr Mickel said people who had moved to Esperance had been seeking a tree change by wanting to leave cities, and the Shire had been trying to attract more people.

“We’re certainly short of employees and particularly skilled employees. We would hope to build those numbers up, whether . . . they would come from other places, whether it be backpackers or overseas people immigrating,” he said.

The census found smaller communities in the northern Goldfields had been able to attract more residents, with the population of Laverton increasing from 1153 to 1333 in five years, and Leonora increasing from 1411 in 2016 to 1588 in 2021.

Shire of Leonora president Peter Craig said the population increase was excellent news, partly because there was doubt about how many people were said to have completed the census.

“We were unsure if the census got out to everybody and if it was completed, and returned in time,” Cr Craig said.

He said people were moving into Leonora and Leinster, and he was pleased with the number as he believed the census had always shown a lower population than the number of residents in the Shire.

“At the end of the day, it means we’re able to source more funding, that’s virtually what it means. So when the funding allocations come out through State and Federal governments, then it gets allocated a certain amount of percentage to how many people live in your Shire, so that’s a positive,” Cr Craig said.

Shire of Laverton president Patrick Hill said there had been “faithful people” moving back into the region because of increased mining activity.

Cr Hill said there had also been other work opportunities developed in the northern Goldfields attracting new residents.

“It’s great to see . . . the population increasing, that’s what we want, that brings more economic input into the town (and) more employment,” Cr Hill said.

He told the Kalgoorlie Miner said the objective would be to create more housing to attract more families and people into the town, making it “vibrant” and “economically viable” for people to live there.