Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/131975
regionaldevelopment Previous page, and above: The Gold Coast is a prime example of growing coastal development; technology has removed the limitations on where you can work. We don't know the extent to which the owners of second homes in coastal regions – the temporary coastal populations – plan to retire to the coast. The permanent populations in these areas could potentially increase quite suddenly, as these retirees won't need to build a house before moving in, Professor Hugo explains. In addition, temporary and permanent populations have different needs. A clearer indication of coastal populations could be gathered by monitoring the use of services such as sewerage, rubbish removal and telecommunications in these areas – a method that Professor Hugo hopes will be utilised more in the future. One of the biggest issues that sea changers face is unemployment, says Alan Stokes. "A lot of coastal areas have unemployment levels way above the national average, so people need to think carefully about what the local job prospects are before they move out of the city," he advises. Russell Island, in the Redland Shire, about 40 kilometres from Brisbane, is one of the nation's biggest unemployment hubs. Home to more than 4,000 residents, the enclave has an unemployment rate of nearly 19 per cent – three and a half times the national average. Other places hit by the GFC unemployment wave are Cairns and the Gold Coast, both cities with economies based heavily on tourism. "They are not getting as many visitors as they did previously, and that has had serious consequences for the local employment market," Stokes says. Not everyone who lives in coastal Australia is under employment stress, though. The National Broadband Network (NBN), due to be completely rolled out by 2020, is opening up previously unimagined opportunities for those living in nonurban areas of Australia to establish viable and profitable businesses online. In Noosa this trend gave birth to the term 'barefoot executives' – people who run successful businesses from their coastal homes, flying interstate when necessary. Another area of growing importance in coastal regions is preparedness for extreme weather events and climate change. Cities and communities dotted around our climatically diverse 36,000-kilometre coastline need to have better contingency planning for these events, experts say. According to Professor Barbara Norman, foundation chair of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Canberra, "Now that we are starting to see the product of climate change and what happens with extreme weather, we have to be thinking more carefully about where we place urban growth in the future, making sure we are not putting future communities at risk." The first step is to identify and map out where the risks are. The Queensland floods, for example, have pushed the boundaries of historical flood zones, so we need to keep updating maps to clearly identify the risks, Professor Norman explains. " EFIC DID MORE THAN PROVIDE A BANK GUARANTEE. THEY HELPED US SECURE MORE CONTRACTS." Mike Franklin, Finance Director, Allmine subsidiary, CIA Ltd Contact EFIC's Leela Hanson on 08 9325 7872 Overcoming financial barriers for exporters