A study has found an upward trend in internal migration to Tasmania due to rising temperatures

The study from James Cook University, Exploring motivations for migration to Tasmania away from mainland Australia said Tasmania has recently encountered a population turn-around in internal migration, with recent data suggesting an upward trend in mainland Australians making permanent moves.

It found many of the participants said their experiences on the mainland prior to moving were influenced heavily by rising temperatures and heat stress.

For Westbury resident Amy Dillon, the decision was for the betterment of her children.

"I think that for young families, we're the ones with the kids who are looking to the future and with everything that has happened like the floods and bushfires in the past 10 years; it's terrifying."

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"If you're paying attention and you're worried about your children's future you're going to make choices based on that."

Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia she said there was a pivotal moment in 2007 where she realised climate change is real and it's coming for future generations.

"If you're being realistic about climate change, Tassie is going to be a place that's safer than a lot of other places in Australia."

"You would be living under a rock if you didn't realise that climate change is happening now and it's going to get worse."

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Strategic futurist Marcus Barber predicted this would happen 20 years ago, and said similar migrations are happening around the world.

"At the time it was just looking at some of the science that was already being spoken about."

"There wasn't as much of a definitive line in the sand as we've got now, but there were certainly enough people paying attention to some of the challenges to Australia's pathways to floods and fires, and how it was likely going to get more problematic."

He said we're now in the mitigation phase.

"We've missed the opportunity to do something about it, so the best thing that will be taking place now is our local councils and state governments understanding they will need to be able to provide shelter on a whole range of things."

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"That means some larger scale investment or looking at existing infrastructure that can be converted."

"All of these things should have happened 10 years ago, but now we're playing catch up and we're going to pay a lot more money as a result."

He said Northern Tasmania is the obvious place for many to go to.

"You see in places like Devenport and Burnie where the increase in rentals is directly driven by increasing demand for people to move there."

He said a particular challenge for Tasmania is that it's a large state with a small population, and that makes the taxation base difficult.

"As a mainlander who bought in Tassie, I'm surprised how little we pay for things like road, registration and council rates."

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"If you need to be able to provide infrastructure you need to have a taxation base that allows for that to happen and we don't have that yet."

Melbourne resident Jane Gardner bought a house in Launceston this year, and said the decision to move was made during the peak of the black summer in 2019.

"I had a newborn and the mercury was creeping close to 49 degrees. The power went out in my suburb, and it was too smoky to go outside."

"We were sitting in the bath trying to stay cool and I realised I didn't want to do something like this anymore."

"I've got a four year old and I'm just thinking about him and where he can grow up where the summers are still relatively cool."

"We lose our social network moving here but I think that's just the choice you have to make when dealing with something as serious as the climate crisis."

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