Regional Profile
The SED region comprises 9 local government areas — the municipalities of Bayside, Casey, Cardinia, Glen Eira, Frankston, Greater Dandenong, Kingston, Mornington Peninsula and Port Phillip. The region has 1.1 million people, nearly a third of Melbourne's total population, currently estimated at 3.6 million people. The population is expected to expand faster than the Melbourne Statistical District or State average for another decade. It is currently the second most populous region in Melbourne and will grow to be the largest by 2010.
One of the distinguishing features of the SED region is its growing differentiation from the rest of Melbourne. Whilst well linked to central Melbourne, the south east region has an increasingly self contained industry base, TAFE and university campuses, an abundant but relatively low skilled labour market and a regional "capital" in the form of Dandenong.
The major industry sectors in the south east region are:
| • | Manufacturing | • | Retail trade |
| • | Wholesale trade | • | Property & business service |
Manufacturing continues to be a key driver of regional prosperity in the south east. It remains the prime generator of output, value added and employment. Almost 40% of Victoria's manufacturing is located in the south east which has Australia's foremost concentration of advanced manufacturing. Total output $13.5 billion, over half of the total of just the City of Greater Dandenong's output.
Whilst other regions complain of a decline in manufacturing, the City of Greater Dandenong has seen a increase in manufacturing productivity leading to jobs growth in industries such as business services. A crucial future challenge for the south east region will be maintaining the ability of manufacturing to adapt and remain dynamic and competitive. With the opening of EastLlink, it is also predicted that business and employment patterns in the south east will experience positive change.
The wide spread of the region, across 9 municipalities, makes it an extremely diverse, complex mix of demography and geography. Any attempt to describe the economic and social landscape by reducing it to regional averages disguises significant differences between its inner and outer reaches. To better summarise and describe this complexity, the south east region can be encapsulated into three clusters:
- The inner cluster is an established, residential group of municipalities close to Melbourne's CBD — the Cities of Port Phillip, Bayside and Glen Eira. This cluster is characterised by relative affluence, slower population growth, an ageing population, large numbers of residents with university qualifications and high numbers of residents earning incomes above $2,000 per week. There are also small pockets of social disadvantage and high unemployment, notably in St Kilda, Hampton and East Hampton. Journey to work data indicates that residents from the inner cluster tend to work in the CBD with the greatest number of people employed in the Property and Business Services sector. As an example, twenty two per cent of Port Phillip residents are employed in this industry sector.
- The central cluster is a group of municipalities experiencing medium population growth and which have a strong and dynamic manufacturing base — the Cities of Kingston, Greater Dandenong and Frankston. Whilst this cluster provides employment for surrounding municipalities it is nevertheless characterised by high unemployment, persistent social disadvantage and growing ethnic diversity. Dandenong, for example, has an unemployment rate of 9% (March 2008) and the highest number of residents in the cluster earning low weekly incomes ($1-$499 per week) reflecting the high SEIFA[1] disadvantage index ratings. Additionally, in Greater Dandenong, those born in non-English speaking countries represent 47% of the municipal population with 171 countries represented. In terms of employment, the predominance of vocational and trades qualifications amongst residents of this cluster reflects the strong manufacturing base.
- The outer cluster is a group of municipalities experiencing unprecedented and accelerated population and infrastructure growth. They also have an interface with rural and agricultural areas — the City of Casey and the Shires of Cardinia and Mornington Peninsula. This cluster is defined by its residential expansion and is characterised by the highest predicted population growth over the next decade, with an estimated increase of 29%. The Shire of Cardinia's population is expected to double in the next decade and will experience one of the fastest growth rates in Victoria. The municipalities are characterised by, on the one hand, a very young population (Casey and Cardinia have 28% and 27% of their population aged between 0 to 17 years respectively) whilst on the other hand, the Mornington Peninsula has the highest percentage of aged residents of any municipality in the region (23% of the population is aged 60+). The Mornington Peninsula is also characterised by pockets of extreme disadvantage and high unemployment, again reflecting the high SEIFA disadvantage index scores of Rosebud, Rosebud West and Hastings. Additionally, the Mornington Peninsula (and Frankston) have the lowest rates of school completion in Melbourne.
