The Sum Of Us

Newcastle Herald

Thursday June 26, 2008

IF you are a 39-year-old, Australian-born Anglican who

is married with children and working full-time as a

professional, you are a pretty typical resident of the

Hunter Region.

You are living in a valley that is one of Australia's economic

powerhouses, with a population of around 612,000,

covering an area of 31,000 square kilometres, containing

one of the nation's largest regional populations, it's oldest

wine growing area, the world's largest coal port, the equine

capital of the country, and the energy powerhouse of the

state.

You are likely to own or be paying off your home and

have a weekly household income of about $880. You drive

to work but are very concerned about the environment and

use recycling services.

You believe climate change will have a direct impact

on your life in the next 20 years; you support the use of

recycled water for drinking, washing clothes and watering

gardens; you opposed locating a nuclear power station in

the Hunter Region; but you are unlikely to subscribe to a

green power program for your household energy requirements,

despite supporting the concept.

You use the computer daily at home and have broadband

access.

Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and

survey information collected by the Hunter Valley Research

Foundation paint an interesting picture of the average

Hunter household.

The region is growing at an annual rate of just under 1

per cent, about the same as NSW, but has a higher number

of people aged over 55 (27.8 per cent) compared with the

rest of Australia (24.3). The vast majority of people living in

the region, nearly 40 per cent, fall into the 25-54 age group,

and the median age of 39 is slightly higher than the national

figure of 37.

There are more females (299,427) than males (289,812) in

the Hunter and about 50 per cent of those over 15 are married.

Nearly one-third have never been married, while the

rest are either separated, divorced or widowed.

Nearly 70 per cent of us live in family households, but

nearly one-quarter live alone. The others live in shared

housing.

Nearly as many couple families have no children (39.2

per cent) as those who do (42.4) and there are 17.1 per cent

one-parent families. The average household size is 2.5.

We are keen home-owners in the Hunter, with a higher

rate of fully owned homes (36.4 per cent) than the rest of

Australia (32.6). Nearly one-third of occupiers are paying

off their homes and about one-quarter rent. According to

2006 Census data, the median monthly loan repayment

was $1300 and the average rent was $180, but interest rate

increases since and the parallel rental squeeze are likely to

have increased those figures.

We primarily list Australia as our place of birth (85 per

cent) and English is the only language spoken in the majority

of homes (92 per cent), with the other most common

languages being Italian, Macedonian, Greek, German and

Cantonese.

About 15,000 people in the region, or 2.6 per cent, are

indigenous.

Anglican is the most popular religion (29.65 per cent), followed

by Catholic (24.6), with those stating no religion (14.9)

making up the next biggest group.

With Newcastle?s shift into a post-industrial phase,

professionals (17.3 per cent) now just pip technicians and

trades workers (17.1 per cent) as the largest occupational

grouping in the region, although the proportion of the latter

remains higher than the national average (14.4), while the

percentage of white-collar workers is less (19.8).

Education and health are the biggest employers and

about 57 per cent of the 266,000-strong regional labour

force have full-time jobs, with about 30 per cent working

part-time and about 7 per cent unemployed.

The Census showed the median regional weekly

individual income of $394 lagged behind the Australia-wide

earnings of $466, as did household income ($888/$1027) and

family income ($1090/$1171).

Hunter people are quicker to leave school than those

in other parts of NSW, with more than one-third (34.5 per

cent) having gone only as far as Year 10 or equivalent, compared

with a fi gure of about 25 per cent state-wide, and a

smaller percentage having continued on to Year 12 (30.2

per cent compared to 42.4 per cent). Only about 10 per cent

of us have a bachelor or higher degree, compared with 16.4

per cent across NSW, but we have a higher percentage of

the population with vocational qualifi cations (21.3 per cent

compared with 16.8 per cent).

We spend, on average, $28,017 to get married and typically

tie the knot in front of about 90 friends and family.

Apart from its people, the valley has major industries

including manufacturing, coal and mining, viticulture and

winemaking, power generation, agribusiness, equine,

information communications technology, tourism, health,

education and defence and aerospace.

The Hunter covers 11 local government areas ? Newcastle,

Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Maitland,

Cessnock, Upper Hunter, Gloucester, Dungog, Singleton,

Muswellbrook and the Great Lakes - where residents

enjoy employment choice, the opportunity to live by a

beach or in a rural setting, excellent health and education

facilities and the joy of time that comes from short commuting

distances.

The region accounts for more than 32 per cent of the

state's exports including coal, mining services, products

and equipment, as well as fresh and processed food and

wine.

Coal is a $6 billion a year industry in the region, with 86

> 5 >

million tonnes exported annually comprising about 90 per

cent of the region's total exports.

About $8 billion in trade goes through the port of Newcastle

a year.

More than 35 per cent of Australia?s aluminium is produced

in the Hunter.

There are 450,000 meat cattle, 262,000 sheep and lambs

and 50,000 milk cattle grazing the land, plus 4 million meat

chickens and around 1 million laying chickens producing

about 16.5 million dozen eggs a year.

One of Australia?s top wine-growing areas, the Hunter

produces 31 million litres of wine annually valued at more

than $230 million.

Power stations in the region generate 80 per cent of the

state's electricity and it is home to the largest solar station

in the southern hemisphere.

The nation?s equine capital of Scone is home to some of

the world?s top breeding stallions and more than $335 million

is invested in the region?s stud farms and horses.

The average price for a house in the Hunter last year

was $366,782, with $365,656 the average unit price, all

wrapped up within a massive almost $5 billion worth of

home and unit sales in 2007.

The Commonwealth Bank?s average mortgage amount

for the region is $195,000 and the Newcastle Permanent's

$198,000.

There are major army (Singleton Army Base) and airforce

(Williamtown RAAF) bases in the area, with sophisticated

defence infrastructure including world competitive aeronautic,

engineering and technology capability, and the area is

base to major aerospace companies Boeing and BAE.

In manufacturing, over the last 10 years more than $10

billion worth of industrial projects have been completed

on budget and on time, with major manufacturing sectors

including metals processing, transport, machinery and

equipment manufacture, chemical processing, mining,

defence and light industry.

Agribusiness in the region, including agriculture,

horticulture, timber and paper products, aquaculture,

food processing and manufacturing of products such as

fertiliser, is valued at more than $1 billion anually.

In tourism, the region played host to 2.1 million domestic

overnight visitors, 4.5 million domestic day trip visitors and

118,000 international visitors in 2006.

As far as transport is concerned, the region has national

and international access for importers and exporters,

passenger and freight rail services within and through the

Hunter linking to the rest of Australia, while Newcastle

Airport, with direct flights to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane,

Gold Coast, Canberra and Norfolk Island, is one of the fastest-

growing airports in Australia.

More than 32,000 motor vehicles were purchased in the

valley last year, among the total 150,000-plus cars in the

region.

Major educational facilities include the University of

Newcastle, TAFE Hunter Institute and Tocal C B Alexander

College.

The Hunter has an almost 300,000-strong workforce that

is skilled and has a strong industrial relations record.

And on top of all of that, it is our home.

YOUR BIGGEST CONCERNS

Health is probably the most important issue facing Hunter

residents, followed by education and the environment.

The Herald used the Domestic Omnibus Survey undertaken

by the Hunter Valley Research Foundation in March,

June, September and December each year to assess how

important the "big three" issues of health, education and

environment were to Hunter residents.

Survey respondents were asked to rank the three issues

in order of importance, and generally health ranked by far

the highest from education and the environment. More

than three-fi fths of the respondents (63.4 per cent) said

that health was their first choice as the most important

issue. More than two-fifths of respondents (40.6 per cent)

nominated education as their second choice and almost half

of respondents (49 per cent) nominated the environment as

their third choice.

There was a statistically significant difference in the

mean ranks by gender and age. Female respondents, and

those aged over 34, were more likely to nominate health as

the most signifi cant issue, while concern for the environment

was greater among those aged below 34 years.

The survey was carried out over the local government

areas of Cessnock, Dungog, Gloucester, Great Lakes, Lake

Macquarie, Maitland, Muswellbrook, Newcastle, Port

Stephens, Singleton and the Upper Hunter.

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE FACING HUNTER RESIDENTS

RESPONSE % OF RESPONDENTS

Population base 448,003

Health Education Environment

First Choice 63.4% 17.8% 18.5%

Second Choice 27.0% 40.6% 32.2%

Third Choice 9.3% 41.2% 49%

Don't know 0.3% 0.3% 0.3%

Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

It's always the people

In the end, it's always the people

who sway the perception of a

place, and the Hunter has plenty

of notables on the world stage carrying

its message.

Jennifer Hawkins, pictured at a

photo shoot on the Foreshore for the

television show The Great Outdoors,

for which she is a presenter, took

the Hunter's name around the world

when she became the 2004 Miss

Universe.

The Hunter beauty, born in Holmesville,

has since become a Great

Outdoors presenter and appeared

on other television shows such as

Dancing With The Stars, as well as

modelling and taking on a wide array

of endorsements, including becoming

the face of Myer.

Andrew Johns, named in the

Australian rugby league team of the

century this year, is one of a vast

number of world-famous sportspeople

from the Hunter, including

world champions of surfi ng in Mark

Richards, motoGP in Casey Stoner

and supercross in Chad Reed.

The arts have musical groups

Silverchair and Screaming Jets, and

actors of the ilk of Susie Porter and

Miranda Otto.

In science, cancer researcher

Professor John Forbes is the only

Australian to have been listed in "the

world's hottest 10" researchers.

The valley has numerous other

luminaries and lesser-known lights

that brighten its existence ? and that

of the world.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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