8/11/19

Inquiry into Regional

Much of Australia’s growth and prosperity has come from regional areas but unfortunately the focus has shifted to the growth of capital cities to a point that can’t be sustained.

A task force needs to be formed to identify regions, regional towns and regional centres that have the potential to grow. That is areas with existing infrastructure and good location.

Major projects need to be identified that will open regional areas to growth and create employment both short and long term. Projects such as new and existing road upgrades that will create employment both short and long term.

Australia has become bogged down in bureaucracy with tiers of public servants finding ways to make life difficult with red tape. There needs to be leadership and decision making to do things instead of just talk. Fast rail projects that are always talked about and are recognised as crucial to Regional Australia’s future are a prime example of the procrastination that exists.

If we look at history there are many towns that once supported larger rural populations, a lot of which were related to the agricultural sector. This has changed as young people leave farms for education and work rarely come back to declining rural areas. This is largely because opportunities such as education are limited and there is nothing else to interest young people.

A task force would identify major rural cities that could take the pressure off state capital cities, but also come down back to the smaller towns to help reinvigorate the bush.

I will use my region as an example of the mistakes that have been made that has prevented growth and sustainability so that lessons can be learned.

Omeo is a small but nevertheless important regional alpine town in north east . It historically serviced a district population of around 10,000 and now closer to 1800 plus a growing tourism sector. The town still however has a large range of services that assist and create employment for smaller outlying communities. has reticulated town water and is the only town in the region with a sewerage system. Services also include Local Government, Hospital, Nursing Home, Pharmacy, Retail, Accommodation, Banking, public transport hub to the north and south plus all other service industries except for one important one. There is no High School.

Good education delivery is crucial to retaining people in rural areas because without it the social and economic cost is very high. Families either leave for the city or send their children away meaning you not only lose population but also the best children are taken from rural towns. In this case Omeo being the regional centre then has as to provide for example doctors, nurses, chemists for the wider region. This has been a problem because professional people either won’t come or if they do, they don’t stay because of the lack of a high school.

Despite around 60 to 70 houses being built in Omeo over the last 25 years our primary school numbers are half what they used to be. We have lost many good families in recent years and continue to lose these people who are community leaders and drivers that we can’t afford to lose. Why is there no High School and what is the lesson to be learned?

There used to be two higher elementary schools, one in Omeo and one 30 kilometres away in a small sawmill town. A decision was made to combine the two and have a regional high school which naturally was to be in Omeo, the main centre. A regional community referendum was held that showed the district wishes were for the school to be in the main town of Omeo.

Unfortunately, due to political interference and pay back for political services rendered, the high school ended up in a small sawmill village without any other services and infrastructure. There has been no growth in that town or school and the district has been paying the price ever since with loss of families and students.

The lesson to be learned from this is to impartially identify strong towns with the ability to grow and put all resources there. This way we can create a critical population mass that will then provide a stronger population base to enable regional growth.

This situation can occur in larger communities also and is not say that some communities should not receive support, but not at the expense of broader regional development.

Another example of getting on with major projects that would provide employment and help develop regional is a low-level road project that would provide all year, all weather access from eastern Victoria to Albury / Southern NSW. Known as the Omeo to Mitta Mitta low level road this project was put up many years ago. The idea was developed because there is no reliable commercial access from Gippsland to the north for the carriage of agricultural produce including seafood or stock and in times of drought the movement of hay and other stock feed.

Omeo is junction of the and the plus other minor roads north, however these roads are not suitable for modern transport and certainly over winter the roads are impassable

There was an enormous amount of work put into this project but back in the 1980’s the Country Roads Board Bureaucracy put a stop to it because they didn’t want to build new roads. Australia was opened back in the early days by people with vision and didn’t have the barriers place by public servants who don’t share that vision.

In summary I want to say that Australia needs to learn from past mistakes and regain a vision for regional areas. I hope my local examples of what has prevented growth here can be an awareness of what not to do and what can be done to help regions with projects that can be of some help. Given the drought and imminent closure of native hardwood logging in Victoria we need projects.

Sincerely