Queensland still a drawcard, but fewer Aussies moving north

An average of 366,300 people moved interstate within Australia each year during the 10 years to June 2010.

The main movements were northward to Queensland, but this slowed in the 2009-2010 financial year, according to the latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

With 42,000 annual relocations, the most prevalent moves were from New South Wales to Queensland in 2009-10. The counter-flows from Queensland to New South Wales ranked the second largest (35,400 people), followed by the flows from New South Wales to Victoria (22,700 people) and Victoria to New South Wales (20,100 people).

Queensland (25,900 people), Western Australia (1,600 people) and Tasmania (160 people) were the only states to record average annual net interstate migration gains over the past decade.

However, Queensland’s gain has gradually declined since the 10-year peak in 2002-03, when Queensland gained 38,000 people, to a 10-year low in 2009-10 with a net gain of 9,600 people.

Western Australia recorded an average net gain in the past 10 years due to the gains recorded from 2003-04 onwards.

Tasmania's numbers fluctuated throughout the past decade, with slightly more net gains than net losses.

New South Wales recorded the largest annual average net loss (23,700 people) followed by South Australia (3,000 people), the Northern Territory (640 people), the Australian Capital Territory (200 people) and Victoria (180 people).

Only New South Wales and South Australia recorded a net loss from interstate migration for each year from June 2000 to June 2010.

All states and territories experienced a significant change in interstate migration in 2008-09 than in 2009-10.

Of all states and territories, Queensland continued to record the largest net gain in interstate migration in 2009-10 (9,600 people). However, this net gain was distinctly smaller than net gains in previous years.

Queensland’s net gain in 2009-10 was nearly 50% lower than the 2008-09 net gain (18,400 people) and 75% lower than the 10-year peak gain of 38,000 people in 2002-03.

In 2009-10, net gains were also recorded by Victoria (2,600 people), Western Australia (2,000 people) and Tasmania (320 people). For Victoria, the net gain was up 700 people from the previous year while Western Australian's net gain was down 4,800 people from the previous year.

Tasmania continued its recent positive net interstate migration in 2009-10 (320 people), but it was considerably less than the peak net gain of 2,600 people in 2003-04.

New South Wales continued to record the largest net loss of all states and territories in 2009-10 (10,500 people). However, the loss of people from New South Wales was less than at any time during the 10 years to June 2010.

The NSW loss in 2009-10 was slightly more than half the loss from the previous year and roughly two-thirds down on the 10-year peak loss of 32,500 in 2002-03.

In 2009-10, a net loss was recorded by South Australia (3,000 people), continuing the series of losses over the 10-year period. The Australian Capital Territory also recorded a net interstate migration loss (70 people) although this was less than the 2008-09 loss of 820 people.

In 2009-10, the Northern Territory experienced the greatest impact from both interstate arrivals and interstate departures. These flows represented 6.9% and 7.2% of the Northern Territory's population respectively.

The Australian Capital Territory experienced the next greatest impact, with a 5% and 5.1% change in its population through interstate arrivals and departures respectively.

Victoria's population felt the lowest impact from interstate migration flows, with a 1.1% change through both its interstate arrivals and departures.