Regional Investment Strategy: the time has come
2nd September, 2011
Opinion Editorialpublished in the
Newscastle Herald
Friday, 2 September 2001
THE time has come to seriously address Australia’s population squeeze and pull the policy levers that can re-energize and build the under-developed 97% of this country that is regional.
It’s an investment that can also be a tonic for Australia’s city ills – a proactive pitch to unclog our congested cities that are bursting under a national population of just 22 million people.
With much of Australia’s real wealth generated in the regions The Nationals argue it is only fitting that a fair share of the revenue they create should be returned to the regions.
But it’s more than that. We recognise the role regional areas can, and must, play in overcoming Australia’s national challenges.
Unless we, as a nation, can bring businesses and people to regional cities and develop new commercial hubs, 36 million people by 2050 will grind our cities into gridlock.
Australia’s population is the most densely packed in the OECD. In fact, it’s almost double the OECD average, with 88% of our people crammed into around 3% of the landmass – that’s Sydney and Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane and the south east, Adelaide and Perth.
Our Regional Investment Strategy seeks to recalibrate the scales of inequality set against regional living through policies to bring in businesses and people and, in doing so, benefit the entire country.
A 2009 study by the National Institute of Industry and Economic Research revealed that, on average, it costs rural residents five-times more to access essential services as it does metropolitan residents.
The biggest disadvantages are for hospitals, residential care services, secondary schools, TAFE colleges and universities.
In addition to our 2010 election pledge of a $1 billion funding guarantee for regional Australia, our Regional Investment Strategy embraces new initiatives to correct these imbalances.
We can’t make people move to regional areas, but we can create the business case for start-up or relocating operations with help of innovative tax breaks. People will follow worthwhile employment opportunities for themselves and their families.
And the government can take the lead by relocating government departments and agencies to regional centres.
Overwhelmingly, the majority of unemployed Australians are in our capital cities. Government policies should enable them to move to jobs in regional areas.
The drought, global financial crisis and floods this past summer have masked a critical workforce shortage across regional Australia.
In agricultural alone around 100,000 jobs – some 80,000 skilled jobs and 22,000 entry-level positions – will go begging as farm production kicks back into full gear.
Young, mobile welfare recipients who refuse to take up gainful employment in the regions should not expect to continue to receive those benefits. Welfare and disability reforms must take account of the opportunities in the regions and the great lifestyles that are available.
Tying new migrants to regional locations experiencing skilled and non-skilled labour shortages can help fill the gaps.
That’s not a new idea. Under the Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship Scheme, doctors are required to live and work in rural areas for a minimum of six years.
Good infrastructure – be it roads, rail, telecommunications, bridges, dams or airports – is a vital key to truly unlock regional Australia’s potential.
But we know that a lack of soft infrastructure – such as health, including allied health services, education resources, childcare and other social institutions – are barriers to regional relocation, especially for families.
We are committed to the long-term planning necessary to overcome these obstacles and capitalise on our national potential.
In America the historic call was ‘go west’. It was the promise of a new frontier with boundless opportunities. As people moved and resettled, along the way the landmass was populated and, today, the US has a well populated and growing interior, boasting major inland cities.
It’s a similar trend in China and India, where right now they are developing large inland centres.
In Australia today we need to be bolder and realize that ignoring regional Australia is no longer an option this country can afford.
Warren Truss is Leader of The Nationals. His full keynote address to The Nationals’ 2011 Federal Council on the Regional Investment Strategy is available at: http://nationals.org.au/News/Speeches.aspx
