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A researcher from The University of Western Australia who grew up on a cattle farm south of Perth is undertaking an ambitious study to find out more about the geography of ageing in Australia's rural workforce.

Dr Amanda Davies of the Institute of Regional Development in UWA's School of Earth and Geographical Sciences will focus on the most vulnerable regions and industries, draw conclusions about the sustainability of rural labour markets and suggest strategies to alleviate these problems.

"In some parts of rural Australia, most of the workforce is between 50 and 75 years old and the labour force participation rate is nearly 90 per cent. These areas struggle to attract younger people and haven't seen an influx of new people for 30 years," she said.

"Many rural businesses are experiencing demand from national and international markets and need to expand but are unable to do so because of the difficulty in sourcing adequately skilled labour."

With a significant number of Australian university graduates going overseas for employment and staying there, and with more school leavers eschewing further education in favour of jobs associated with the State's minerals and energy boom, she is concerned that when the resources boom ends there will be a severe shortage of skilled workers.

While this will cause problems in metropolitan regions, in rural Australia it will be even worse. "Many semi-retired workers in rural Australia can afford to retire fully but the demand for their skills is such that they can't. When they finally do leave the workforce, their knowledge is lost because they haven't had anyone to pass it on to."

Dr Davies will also factor climate change into her study. As areas dry out, population tends to diminish and those left behind must adapt.

Her study, partly funded by the Rural Industries Resource Development Corporation, will take her to several key regional parts of the country. In WA, she will visit the Great Southern, where wheat and sheep are produced, and the Kimberley, particularly the Ord River area, where there is horticulture based on irrigation. In South Australia, she will visit the drying horticultural Riverlands region.

In NSW, Dr Davies will visit the northern slopes and plains, where there is broad-acre agriculture as well as irrigation and beef-production; and in Queensland she will see the traditionally cane-growing Mackay region where tourism is a growing industry.

In each of these areas, she will visit local councils, businesses, farms, planning departments, tourism bodies, schools and hospitals to identify problems and record previous methods of addressing them.

She will report her findings, and her recommendations, back to local authorities, who she said were highly motivated to keep their communities viable.

Media references

Dr Amanda Davies 61 8 6488 8011
0439 998 558

Simone Hewett / Sally-Ann Jones (UWA Public Affairs) 61 8 6488 7977
0420 790 097 / 0420 790 098