Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Parkes Shire Council Submission
Senate Economics References Committee
Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of,
regionalTerms of Referenceinequality in Australia
April 2018 Page 1 of 13
Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Parkes Shire Council would like to thank the Senate Economics References Committee for the opportunity to comment on the indicators and impact of regional inequality in Australia.
Council believes that its submission address’ many of the issues and highlights where Council has been about to overcome some of the factors leading to regional disadvantage. Council is also mindful that there are many issues facing the Parkes Shire and the central western NSW which they may need Government support to overcome. Council believes that many of these issues are not unique to Parkes but are reflected throughout regional NSW.
Overview of Parkes Shire
Parkes is a thriving Shire with a population of approximately 15,000, centrally located within NSW. Parkes is literally the cross roads of the Nation with the Newell Highway, connecting Brisbane and Melbourne, and the transcontinental railway linking the eastern seaboard to Perth meeting in Parkes to form a unique logistics opportunity for Australia. Parkes is also well served by road to Sydney through Bathurst and over the Blue Mountains. Further, Parkes will be one of the major freight centres in the Inland Rail, which will run through central NSW and link Victoria with Queensland by rail. These unique characteristic has made Parkes one of the most strategically significant locations in the future of transport and logistics operations in Australia.
Despite Parkes Shire Council’s best efforts to reduce the socio-economic disadvantage, Socio-Economic Indexes for Australia (SEIFA) ranked Parkes (Rural) with an index score of 1,057. The score is reflective of the highest level of disadvantage, based on factors such as low income, low educational attainment, high unemployment, and jobs in relatively unskilled occupations. The Parkes Shire received a percentile ranking of 18, indicating that the region is approximately 82 per cent more disadvantaged than the rest of Australia.
a) fiscal policies at federal, state and local government levels;
Council in the past has welcomed initiatives by the State and Federal Governments to encourage businesses and government organisations to relocate to regional areas, through initiatives such as relocation grants and payroll tax deductions.
However Council acknowledges that even though ‘relocation grants’ can make it attractive for people/ businesses to move to regionally areas, additional elements need to be considered to ensure that the move is successful such as:
Stage of life
Affordable housing
Educational opportunities/ facilities
Health services
Sense of community
Close to family and friends: and
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Full time employment
This is why all levels of Government need to work together to ensure the "livability" of regional areas to successfully relocate people from metropolitan areas.
Another consideration maybe the idea of setting up tax zones or regional enterprise zones to encourage people and businesses out into the regions.
b) improved co-ordination of federal, state and local government policies;
Parkes Shire Council believes that improved co-ordinations between federal, state and local government policies are paramount.
We believe an example of this would be better coordination between departments on a State and Federal level in the way in which grant money is allocated. By coordinating grant monies at State, Federal and Local Government levels, the money could be better leveraged.
A great example of how this worked in the past was the coordination of the NSW Fixing Country Roads Grants with the Federal Heavy Safety & Productivity Program. The other challenge is that grant applications ask for shovel ready projects, quite often with large financial contributions from local government. It then sometimes takes up to 8 months for a grant to be announced, thus making scheduling and budgeting challenging for local government - especially for smaller regional Councils.
Council has been attracted to the City Deal model as it coordinates all three levels of Government. Council likes that fact that City Deals:
Provide an ambitious plan to generate economic growth.
Prioritise local needs with a context of nationally significant reform, including actions that drive productivity and competition.
Take a long-term approach to achieve transformative change.
Identify the 'game-changers' and catalyst actions that will deliver a step-change in growth outcomes and then priorities delivery.
Deliver action and reform that are additional to governments' usual operations.
We believe that is a model that should be rolled out, not just with larger Cities, but has the potential to create new regional cities.
c) regional development policies;
Regional policies such as decentralisation of Government departments work to a point. However, it these policies are not back up with adequate health care, education and infrastructure they will only be short term solutions.
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
d) infrastructure;
Telecommunications
The tyranny of distance is often spoken about as being a disadvantage to business in regional NSW. Technology has the power to address this issue and open up the regional areas of NSW and Australia to businesses but for this to be achieved technology and communications systems have to be fast and reliable.
Without access to technology, major infrastructure projects such as new schools, hospitals, decentralisation of businesses to regional areas and investment in infrastructure will not be able to reach their full the economic or social benefits.
Parkes is fortunate in having fire optic telecommunications infrastructure already in the ground. The rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) will further strengthen telecommunications and increase the opportunity for virtual communication in Parkes.
However, the Parkes Shire covers an area of 5,919sq km and further investment in telecommunications infrastructure both through internet connections and mobile connections is required to reduce the tyranny of distance suffered by regional residents located within telecommunications black spots.
Water Security
For regional communities to thrive and grow there is an expectation that Government of all levels will work together to provide a safe and reliable water supply. Parkes Shire Council has been proactively working towards future-proofing water security for the Shire, and have undertaken a raft of projects to upgrade our infrastructure and strengthen our water supply.
Parkes Shire Council has recently carried out nearly $100M worth of works thanks to the significant investments by the State and Federal Governments. The construction of the new Water and Sewage Treatment Plants, Advanced Water Recycling Facility, Bore 8 refurbishment and Lachlan Pump Station upgrades were possible due to the collaborative approach from all levels of Government.
Place making - CBD Vibrancy
To ensure the Parkes Central Business District continues to grow and thrive, Council has committed to an ambitious capital works and maintenance program through the Parkes CBD Vibrancy Strategy 2016. This program will be rolled out over the next 4 – 10 years. However, the program is dependent on funding availability and grants.
Roads
Council is responsible for in excess of 2,000km of sealed and gravel roads across the region. Council takes its role in the supply chain very seriously with Council allocating over
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
$20 million towards improving and maintaining our regional road assets to ensure connectivity and efficiency.
With freight volumes set to double by 2030 and triple by 2050, a road only solution will mean supply chain costs will increase, making our exports less competitive and domestic products more expensive. According to the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) traffic congestion is costing Australians $15 billion per year and this cost is rising.
Currently in Parkes there is approximately 1 truck a minute (24 hours a day) equating to over 1400 truck movements a day going through the centre of Parkes - this is set to double with one every 30 seconds. The existing road-dominated freight network can’t cope with this growth without further investment.
Agriculture is a significant component of the Central West economic mix and efficient delivery of grain during harvest time is essential for productivity of primary producers. The current interface between road, silos and rail needs to be upgraded especially as the number of silos being used at harvest decreases. Time wasted due to access issues and congestion frustrates the efforts of transport operators taking produce to market - recently this has contributed to the increase in on-farm storage, an economic issue critical to the business model of key transport operators such as GrainCorp.
As agricultural production to market is a road-intensive freight task, harvest is becoming more rapid and is concentrated within a few weeks of each year, the fluency and efficiency of vehicles to and from the farm is highly valued by the producer and the freight operator. By reducing turnaround times more freight can access the rail siding to be distributed to customer points in a cost effective and timely manner. By encouraging HPV such as B- Doubles the freight journey is further economised.
Regional roads and the authorisation of those roads for HPV use are the responsibility of Local Government as the local roads authority. Councils, like Parkes Shire Council, have thousands of kilometres of roads to maintain and administer. Council understands that it is our responsibility to help the economic growth of our region by allowing efficient movement of agricultural product. However, Council is increasingly pressured to consent to road train access to the local road network to facilitate grain haulage and the delivery of agricultural products from primary producers within Parkes LGA. Council also has to ensure that it is not at the expense of the safety of our community who share the roads. Economically, the local rate payers also have to bear the full cost of expenditure on local roads for national commodities. This is becoming more and more important with the reduction of the number of silos and
Bells Line
For decades Council has lobbied for an east-west corridor across the Blue Mountains to improve transport links between the Central West and Sydney. We are delighted that the NSW Government has recently announced it has secured the Castlereagh Corridor. The vital link between the Bells Line of Road at Kurrajong and the M7 Motorway will be preserved for future plans, to increase capacity and improve freight access.
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Rail
One of the challenges that the RDA NSW Central West Freight Study identified was that the different rail access regimes and the need to work with multiple rail owners to transport rail freight increases the complexity of rail transportation. http://www.rdacentralwest.org.au/initiatives/nsw-central-west-freight-study/
There are 3 separate Network Managers across the Central West, which arguably increases the overhead component of rail freight costs. Currently, to move freight to Sydney via rail from Parkes you need to deal with ARTC, John Holland and Sydney Rail - not to mention dealing with the congestion in the Sydney network and the curfews. (This is listed as an issue in the NSW Port 30 year Master Plan on page 77)
Rail freight access through Sydney is constrained due to train path availability, which was highlighted in the 2013 NSW Freight and Parts Strategy as well as the Draft Plan. Providing efficient freight access through regional areas may help alleviate the problem, this mean better access to the Ports.
This needs to be addressed by all levels of government.
Inland Rail
The Inland Rail will provide more choice for produces to choose the most cost efficient Port too send and receive product from. This means that Parkes will be an important intermodal point as from Parkes once the Inland Rail is developed exporters and importers can connect with ports in NSW, Victoria, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.
The Parkes National Logistic Hub and the importance of this Terminal was referred to in the 2015 Inland Rail Business Case 2015 page 108 which states:
"Terminal investment is likely to be private funding based on acceptable commercial terms and returns, however the role of government requires further consideration, including:
Metropolitan terminals may require governments to play a role in facilitating third party access (to promote above rail competition) and land-use planning (to facilitate the optimal location of terminals).
Regional terminals are likely to be market led, with potential for government facilitation of third party access to enable Parkes to fulfil its crucial role in the national freight network with both north–south and east–west distribution.”
Parkes Shire Council believes that Government should invest in rail infrastructure which would complement Inland Rail and to would provide an opportunity for regional businesses to access ports. This would open up new markets to freight users across the region and
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
provide significant economic benefits to the region and the broader NSW and national economy.
e) education;
Parkes’ tertiary qualifications are lower than that of both the Central West and NSW. The result of this is that employers struggle in attracting highly skilled labour such as engineers. Council has been proactively trying to address these shortages through projects such as the Parkes University Study Centre.
TAFE continues to be the backbone of the training system in NSW, playing a vital role in addressing the skills shortages in rural and regional areas. As such, it is critical that TAFE and institutions remain locally responsive, flexible and autonomous, thus able to provide course that deliberately and systematically target local skills shortages.
Council believes more work needs to be done to increase the amount of programs available to local distance students, and better promote the different pathways to higher education.
In an effort to make tertiary education more accessible for young people in the Parkes Shire, Council offers the Jack Scoble Scholarship each year, to assist local students to embark on their first year of university. In 2018, Council received 13 applications, with the scholarship awarded to two recipients. Previous recipients have used the scholarship to fund new laptops, for the purchase of textbooks, and to assist with relocation and accommodation expenses.
f) building human capital;
Parkes Shire Council recognises that by enhancing not only cultural facilities but also recreational facilities it will attract people to the area to enjoy the benefits of the lifestyle on offer the Community Strategic Plan states “It is recognised that by enhancing recreation and culture, Parkes Shire will attract people to the area to enjoy the benefits of the lifestyle on offer”.
One of the challenges that the Council currently faces is the ongoing improvements of its aquatic facilities. Over the next few years Council will be:
Looking for funding in the form of either a loan or grant to upgrade pool facilities; and Looking at the cost of maintaining Peak Hill, Trundle and Tullamore pools, and seeking funds to maintain them.
The Henry Parkes Centre is not only just a visitor information centre but is home to some major collections which have a cultural focus, such as the:
The Kings Castle Elvis Museum Parkes Motor Museum Parkes Local History Museum Page 7 of 13
Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Pioneer Park Antique Machinery Museum
Cultural facilities like the Henry Parkes Centre, Parkes Little Theatre, Library and Cultural Centre and events like the Parkes Elvis Festival, held in January each year which attracts around 12,000 visitors and inputs $7 million into the economy, are very important to communities like Parkes. They help substantial spending into the local economy, attract people to the area and provide the community a sense of pride.
Council has been working closely with the local Aboriginal community and has been active on a steering committee to set up a working group into Aboriginal Engagement.
According to the 2016 Census data, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents make up 10 per cent of the total Parkes Shire population, an increase of 1.7 per cent since 2011.
In 2012, Parkes Shire Council entered a Joint Funding Agreement with CMOC Northparkes Mines for the engagement of an Aboriginal Project Officer. This position was previously funded through the ICC (Indigenous Coordination Centre) in Wagga. This position is under the auspice of the Parkes & District Neighbourhood and Community Information Centre Inc. The aim of the Aboriginal Project Officer role is to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage in line with the Government's Indigenous building blocks.
The key priorities for this role are:
Health Transport infrastructure Employment Education Early Childhood Housing Economic Development
g) enhancing local workforce skills;
Within regional New South Wales the common skill gaps and labour shortage areas for Local Government are attracting and retaining professionals in engineering, health, town planning, leadership and experienced water and sewer operators. This situation is exacerbated by the ageing workforce. An initiative has been developed for the secondary schools within the Shire, in partnership with Council and Skillset to invest in employment opportunities for our youth.
Skilled migration plays a critical role in the economy of the Parkes Shire. As has been demonstrated in the case studies it is a vital component in ensuring that our community is prosperous. However, the need for skilled migration is cyclical depending on financial viability of particular industries such as mining or seasonal demand in agriculture. At the moment the Parkes Shire has a lack of skilled professionals within the health care industry especially within nursing and midwifery, programs of skilled migration are being put in place.
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Council is also aware of the need "grow our own" and has implemented programs such as the University Study Centre and school based traineeships.
Traineeships + Apprenticeships
Council employs trainees under a School Based Traineeship Program and School Leaver Traineeship Program. The traineeships are a commitment identified in Council's Workforce Plan to increase the percentage of young trainees within the workforce which will assist in achieving the Community Strategic Plan objective to Develop Lifelong Learning Opportunities within the Shire.
The School Based Traineeship Program has been partnered and supported by Skillset, Parkes Shire Council and Parkes High School. The program is offered to year 11 students who complete a total of 100 paid work days while completing a Certificate II in their chosen vocation over a 2 year period. Parkes Shire Council was appointed as employer of the year by Skillset for the work Council has done with the SBATS (School Based Apprentices & Traineeships).
Parkes Shire Council has endorsed other strategies Council has initiated to address skill shortages where possible:
Apprentices/Trainees - Council has set a goal for 5% of its workforce to be trainees over the next 4 years with this extending out to an ultimate goal of 10%. Succession Planning - developing and providing opportunities for those interested in higher level positions into the future Mentoring Programs - introduction of a formal mentoring program with older employees, under a phased retirement program to assist with the transference of skills and knowledge. Leadership Program for upcoming Leaders - targeting aspiring leaders and offering training and work placement opportunities Professional Development Program for Senior Staff - Structured development program for senior staff Skilled Migration- supporting NESB to relocate to regional area
Country Universities Centre
Parkes Shire Council has long been committed to the concept of life-long learning. Council has set ourselves an ambitious objective to increase the number of people within our community achieving tertiary qualifications.
Council is now exploring the concept of the Country Universities Centre (CUC), based off the model running in Cooma (pop 9,000) since 2013. Distance education students use the CUC as a study and support centre. It was originally a joint initiative of Snowy Hydro and Cooma Monaro Shire Council. In 2014, the centre became an incorporated, not for profit organisation, and was handed over to a community governed Board of Directors.
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
The CUC model is showing that over a four year period, students have achieved a 71% rate of completion rate.
While these investigations and investments are being made a regional level, in order to make these models sustainable, a collaborative approach is required by all tiers of government.
h) employment arrangements;
Parkes Shire is very lucky to boast a diverse employment market. A goal of economic development is often to maximise the employment opportunities locally, leading to a more socially and environmentally sustainable community. According to the latest statistics, the ratio of jobs to residents was 0.93, meaning that there are less jobs than workers living in the Parkes Shire.
According to the ABS Labour Force Survey and Centrelink data, the unemployment rate in Parkes Shire was 5.48% for the December 2017 quarter. While the number of unemployed residents is on the decline, the unemployment rate remains high than the State average of 4.29%.
The Melbourne to Brisbane Rail is set to bring about new employment opportunities, with construction on the Parkes to Narromine section set to commence mid-2018. Leveraging off the Inland Rail, Council is working to attract new industry to the region through the Parkes National Logistics Hub Business Attraction Campaign - aimed at attracting major logistics, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution companies to establish operations in Parkes. Funding for such campaigns enables local governments to showcase what their region has to offer to a broader market.
i) decentralisation policies;
Council in the past has welcomed initiatives by the State and Federal Governments to encourage businesses and government organisations to relocate to regional areas, through initiatives such as relocation grants and payroll tax deductions.
However Council acknowledges that even though "relocation grants" can make it attractive for people/ businesses to move to regionally areas, additional elements need to be considered to ensure that the move is successful such as:
Stage of life
Affordable housing
Educational opportunities/ facilities
Health services
Sense of community
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Close to family and friends: and
Full time employment
This is why all levels of Government need to work together to ensure the "livability" of regional areas to successfully relocate people from metropolitan areas.
Governments should also consider policies such as regional company "tax zones" to encourage people and businesses out into the regions.
Parkes Shire Council applauds the Federal Government's efforts to start to decentralise Government Departments from cities into regional and rural areas, such as the relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale in NSW.
The relocation of departments with a natural fit to a regional area such as the NSW Government's Department of Agriculture to Orange and The NSW Department of Local Government to Nowra shows that decentralisation can work and that these Departments are now able to work more closely with their constituents.
Parkes Shire Council has previously compiled submissions, regarding NSW Government agencies such as NSW Rural Fire Service and Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) that we consider are quintessentially regional and as such should be relocated to the regional and rural areas.
j) innovation;
Cities and regions are increasingly shifting towards innovation, digitisation and global connectivity in all aspects of human and business life. New approaches to planning are required to create an environment that supports community economic growth.
Regional areas need to be able to respond to Megatrends and proactively manage and maintain their assets to attract further investment.
Parkes Shire Council is developing a Parkes + Smart Plan, with an important focus on maximising the strategic competitiveness and opportunities in Parkes, in order to achieve the vision for the whole Shire. Council believes that there needs to be more investment in research and development which would encourage investment in regional areas.
k) manufacturing
Agricultural Value add
Value-adding is the enhancement of products or services offered by a business, prior to the product or service being made available to customers. This value can be added in a number of ways:
• Through marketing and service provision.
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Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
• By transforming the product into something better / more valuable from the customer’s perspective.
Over 35% of businesses in the shire are associated with agriculture, including varying scales of farm businesses, machinery and equipment services, agriculture engineering, pest and weed management services, fertiliser and chemical suppliers.
While the agribusiness workforce decreased by over 27% from 2006 (ABS Place of Work Figures 2007 - 2012), the productively from agriculture continues to grow, confirming that local farms are some of the most efficient businesses in the shire.
With the global population projected to grow into the future, it is widely predicted that world agrifood demand will significantly boost Australian agribusiness section by 2030. Most of the projected demand occurs in Asia, which places Australia at the centre of the supply and demand chain.
Due to its strategic position to consumer markets and export centres , the agribusinesses in and around Parkes have opportunities to value add their products and use the centralised storage and distribution facilities being developed at Parkes to market and distribute goods to national and world markets. Potential value adding products include packaged meat, eggs and cereal products, fertiliser, lime and cement products, chemicals and fuel
Over the years Council has had discussions with various innovative industries wishing to develop agricultural concepts however, without Government funding and proper and genuine support from Government, such as high levels of taxable rebate the burden of taking the risk of innovation and the challenge of thinking outside the box will sit solely with entrepreneurs rather than shared with the community.
Government needs to encourage financially, creative agricultural thinking to achieve a status as a world leader in agricultural value add and drive our agricultural market forward.
l) any other related matters
Health
As in all rural and regional communities, health is an important issues and is reflected in the Parkes Shire Community Strategic Plan 2030.
The Parkes GP Working Party was established in June 2007 to provide a forum for discussion on and development of workable strategies for the retention and recruitment of general practitioners, medical doctors and other allied health professionals in the Parkes Shire.
Fundraising events, such as the GP Cup raise funds to pay for recruitment costs.
Regional Australia, in particular Central Western NSW needs government support to attract and retain health professionals in country areas. Page 12 of 13
Parkes Shire Council Submission Inquiry into the indicators of, and impact of, regional inequality in Australia
Conclusion
Governments at all levels as well as the private sector need to work together to collaborate and innovate to ensure that we are meeting the emerging challenges and trends of the modern world and decreasing the inequality between regional and metropolitan areas.
However, it is difficult to see strategic alignment between the three tiers of Government. The Integrated Planning and Reporting process was established by the State for Local Government is generally ignored by the State. There also seems to be little alignment between State and Federal initiatives. City deals may be a mechanism to help align the tiers of Government.
Infrastructure developments are needed to open up opportunities presented from Sydney and other larger citied being a global city to regional NSW and Australia. Transport links in particular will play a vital role in ensuring a healthy functioning transport network, which will move product from paddock to plate, through international ports and ensure that the right mode is use for the right load.
Parkes has potential to become an important "global" regional centre, but only if the shire is positioned to win full advantage of new and emerging trends in global markets as wells as transport and freight handling, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, retail and government services and the inequality between regional areas is addressed.
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