Gunnedah's population is growing, not falling, despite an incorrect report - but there are lingering concerns about the effect of the mistake.
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After a metro newspaper claimed the town had lost more than 10 per cent of its people in the past six years, mayor Jamie Chaffey refused to entertain the claim.
He was quickly vindicated, but Gunnedah Business Chamber president Stacey McAllan said such reports had "an impact, definitely".
"I think the biggest impact would be from an investment perspective," Ms McAllan said.
"If people were looking to invest somewhere, [they] are going to hear that and think, 'Wow, wasn't Gunnedah on the rise not that long ago?'
"People hear about mining towns becoming ghost towns; they'd be thinking, 'Is Gunnedah going to be subject to that?'"
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The report on Friday said Gunnedah had suffered the biggest population drop in NSW - in fact, it grew from 9129 to 9572 between 2012 and 2018.
The error was that the statisical area called Gunnedah Region SA2 - which circles but doesn't include the town - was mistaken for the town itself. That area did drop from 4572 to 4093 people.
A correction has been added to the report.
Gunnedah shire's population went up from 12,514 to 12,661 in the same time.
'We're bucking the trend'
The NVI could not reach mayor Jamie Chaffey for comment, but he said on radio on Friday he was "livid" about the newspaper report.
"If I wasn't so upset about it, I probably would be laughing about it," he said.
"We're one of the few communities that are bucking the trend, and we've seen growth - not huge numbers, but we've seen growth - year on year for the last 10 years."
The Australian Bureau of Statistics noted that the town's increase and the region's decrease were about the same, but the "data doesn't speculate" on why.
Ms McAllan said she thought it could be "reflective of the drought conditions and people relocating closer to the town".
In town, "everything's pretty much been cruising along the same and, if anything, we notice incremental growth".
"We look around and we don't have any resources - childcare, doctors - because they're so packed out; booked to the max."