25 July 2019

Regions SA Re: Regional Development Strategy Discussion Paper Primary Industries and SA GPO Box 1671 , SA 5001

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Regional Development Strategy consultation

On behalf of , I am pleased to make a written submission in response to the Regional Development Strategy discussion paper.

Diverse regions The Tatiara is a prosperous and innovative district, boasting a diverse agricultural base, including grains and stock, vineyards, small seeds, flowers, vegetables and olives, and strong businesses like Bordertown’s JBS or Keith’s Master Butchers Co-operative Ltd (MBL).

Our district has proven fertile ground for entrepreneurs like Tatiara Truck & Trailers, the second largest truck repair and maintenance business in , or Keith Timber Group, a dominant player in the South Australian frame and truss, timber and hardware markets, with sites located in Adelaide, Keith, Murray Bridge and Naracoorte.

Other exciting ventures are just emerging, like Good Country Hemp’s hemp processing plant, or Blue Lake Milling’s anaerobic digester converting oat husks into electricity.

We are in the enviable position of having run out of space at our industrial estates in Bordertown and Keith, and are in the process of opening stage 3 of the Bordertown Industrial Estate. Stage 2 of the Keith Industrial Estate will follow this year.

At a time that Australia welcomes an unemployment rate of 5.1% we have an unemployment rate of 1.7%, meaning that our businesses have to bring in significant labour from outside the to fill vacancies.

However, if there is one thing that we, like many other regions, are failing to do, it is to promote this diversity and the exciting story of our entrepreneurs and opportunities. The discussion paper itself reflects this failure, when it notes regional areas’ lack of diverse economies.

Essential services We know that for businesses and prospective residents alike the availability of good essential services – health, housing and education – is a key consideration in expanding or relocating.

Health Our communities and businesses are telling us that access to health services, whether to basic GP services or specialists, mental health support or allied health services, is not sufficient to meet their needs. Businesses find it difficult to access health services at short notice, for drug testing for example. Appointments to see a GP might come with a waiting time of a few weeks, while many specialists can only be accessed outside the district.

Council recognises the importance of appropriate health services to our residents and businesses and has commissioned a study to further explore community needs and potential business models for a health hub in Bordertown. Council has also provided support to the Keith & District Hospital while the community hospital underwent a review of its operating model.

Housing Housing stock in the Tatiara has not kept pace with our growing economy and labour needs. Much of our housing stock is outdated and rental virtually unavailable. The influx of new residents taking up employment in Bordertown has further exacerbated the shortage of rental housing.

Bordertown’s buy, swap and sell Facebook page fields questions from new or prospective residents who have found employment in the Tatiara but are desperately looking for housing every week.

A number of rooming houses attempt to provide accommodation for new residents. To put this into perspective, of the 68 South Australian councils, Tatiara DC had the seventh highest number of residents staying in rooming houses at the 2016 Census, after the , Port Adelaide Enfield, Salisbury, West Torrens, Mitcham and Norwood Payneham St Peters.

The number of residents who live in group households has almost doubled in the last 15 years and now sits at 86 or 3.3% of households, above the regional average of 2.2%. Anecdotal evidence tells us that these residents are often single men working at JBS who are sharing housing in overcrowded, potentially unsafe conditions.

The Bordertown Caravan Park also accommodates permanent residents in response to the urgent need for accommodation.

To address the housing crisis, we propose to partner with state and federal governments as well as community housing providers to develop a combination of long-term affordable rentals, Rent-to-Buy home ownership pathways, and shared appreciation and shared equity home ownership schemes (50%-70% interest free equity contribution and/or growth share).

Education Access to education and professional development is essential to the development of our regions. The travel required to access training or development opportunities creates a barrier to participation for local businesses and employees.

The establishment of local education hubs that could facilitate distance education, study groups etc. would provide an alternative means for our residents to participate in further education. To help facilitate participation, we have recently installed video conferencing equipment at our Civic Centre.

Childcare Childcare is crucial to economic participation of the whole community. Unfortunately, childcare places are limited, as is after school hours care.

Alternative models of operation, including partnerships with schools in towns that do not currently offer childcare, or extension of three-year- old kindergarten programs need to be explored.

Roads Appropriate transport infrastructure is a key ingredient to the economic growth of our regions.

Council and our community are concerned over the safety of state government managed roads within our district, in particular Frances Road, Naracoorte Road, Ngarkat Highway and Rowney Road, and consider their improvement a high priority.

The introduction of larger heavy freight vehicles on substandard roads is further increasing our community’s, and Council’s, concern. While we understand and support the economic benefits of high productivity freight vehicles, the development of new industries within our region is seeing an increase in heavy vehicle movements rather than a reduction due to higher productivity freight vehicles. The diminished tracking ability of the larger vehicles on the narrow and rough roads adds an additional risk to road users.

Council has been very proactive in addressing road safety issues, not only on our own network but also where our network intersects with state government roads. In response to community concern, we have upgraded, at our expense, intersections on Rowney Road/ Chark Road, Six Mile Well Road/ Frances Road, and Hubl Road/ Rowney Road. All of these works were fully funded by Council.

Electricity A consistent and affordable power supply is integral to the future viability of our local economy. Unfortunately, Bordertown, the largest town in the district and home to almost 3,000 people as well as significant industry and business, finds itself unable to meet electricity demand for economic development.

Local industries and major employers in the district experience issues with inconsistent power supply, brownouts resulting in machinery shutting down at significant operational cost. The limited supply is also a significant barrier to their expansion and creates risk of businesses leaving the area.

Potential developers of commercial or alternative energy projects have been advised to upgrade the infrastructure from Keith, 45km away, or

the grid in Bordertown itself to be able to carry higher capacity. While it is common for new developments to provide some infrastructure such as connections and power kiosks, the request for developers to undertake major network augmentation appears inconsistent with market rules.

Communication Telecommunication continues to be a challenge and barrier to the economic development of our regions. Not only do farming families in the district face much higher costs than their urban counterparts, some paying $540/month for their telecommunications requirements, plus the cost of installing a $1,200 mobile booster in the house, they also pay in less obvious ways.

These indirect costs of unreliable coverage are harder to quantify but have been identified by local businesses as a reduced capacity to compete with other agricultural businesses, in Australia and overseas. Without access to reliable telecommunications services, local farmers are unable to utilise new farming equipment and management tools that rely on data technologies. New yield mapping or stock tracking applications continue to improve yields and productivity but cannot be accessed effectively without telecommunications services. Farmers have missed opportunities to market agricultural product while out of range, and every day deal with the impact on basic business activities like banking or emails, which most of us would complete on our smartphones without a second thought.

Concerns about access to and the cost of tradies and contractors working on farm, knowing that their communications will be compromised while in the area, as well as the implications for the safety and wellbeing of people often working alone in remote areas, have also been raised.

Two bushfires in 2018 further highlighted the impact of insufficient communications coverage on our community’s safety. Our community is well informed, prepared and actively engaged in fire prevention and response, but their efforts are made tremendously more difficult and the emergency event itself more traumatic by the lack of communication services.

Migration A large number of employers across the region are using migrant workers to address the district’s labour shortages. For our largest employer, JBS Australia, migrants may make up 70% of its 450 strong workforce at any one time. Migrants are also employed in businesses who need seasonal workers like our vineyards, seed processors and vegetable growers. Migrants include those on bridging or refugee visas as well as 457/482 (sponsored skilled overseas workers working temporarily in Australia), 417 (working holiday) and 462 (work and holiday) visa categories.

Many research papers as well as our own experience confirm that successful settlement relies on strong, locally led initiatives. We might be able to attract migrants to the regions with a variety of programs but

if we do not effectively support their settlement in our communities we will be unable to retain our new residents in the medium to long term.

In the Tatiara, settlement support provided by the Bordertown Migrant Resource Centre with very limited funding and a huge amount of goodwill and volunteer contributions has included:  Case management for people not fitting the criteria for official settlement programs (TPV, SHEV, post five-year settlement, etc.)  Volunteer run English classes  Education sessions, including school information sessions for new parents, RAA road safety quiz, waste management, Australian laws and regulations  Swim and Survive program for migrants  Harmony Day events  Culture specific celebrations – Naruz, Eid, welcome parties etc.  Promoting integration through sporting clubs and various community events  Music workshops and celebrations  Assisting staff induction at major employer  Supporting service providers - medical clinic, schools, post office etc. care for the migrant community

While our local activities have been very successful, they cannot be resourced by a small rural community on its own in the long term. It is essential that federal and state governments invest in regional communities to support settlement and capacity building work provided by organisations like the Australian Migrant Resource Centre, local government, community groups and businesses.

What is essential The discussion paper asks the question what services are essential in a community. A starting point may be the work done by councils in . In 2015, Buloke Shire Council in north-central Victoria launched the Rural Living campaign, proposing that all Victorians, including the residents of small rural shires, deserve a minimum set of service levels. Rural Councils Victoria has since taken leadership of the development of an agreed basic suite of services.

While the discussion paper is looking to benchmark regional service provision to ensure our regions have an appropriate level of service for their size and population, these should be aspirational, stretching benchmarks, rather than based on the often inadequate (mental health services for example) status quo.

Investment in infrastructure The discussion paper considers different models to invest smarter in the regions and create big and lasting change. A risk evident in other jurisdictions’ investment policies is that priorities are often informed by the number of jobs created.

We need to ensure that our investment priorities are not simply driven by the number of jobs created, but rather a full value for money proposition. 10 jobs created in a disadvantaged 500 people town hold

tremendous value, well beyond the numbers which considered in isolation might not favour this investment compared to 50 jobs created in a regional city.

There is great potential for state and federal governments to partner with local government and local communities to maximise outcomes from shared investment. A lot of work has been done at a community, local government and Local Government Association level to identify priorities and opportunities for regional development.

A “Regional Management Forum” modelled on similar partnerships in other jurisdictions could provide a means to facilitate such collaboration between state government departments and local governments in each of South Australia’s regions, providing a mechanism for constructive, regular dialogue.

The Forums would be chaired by departmental Secretaries, and comprise the Chief Executive Officers of local government as well as senior representatives from state government departments. The role of the Forums would be to:  Identify and address critical issues facing the region;  Encourage cooperation between departments and with councils;  Work with statutory authorities, businesses and local communities to deliver key priorities; and  Develop integrated approaches to regional development.

Competitive advantage A review of other states and regions shows that we are all trying to do the same thing: Attract more population and investment into our regions.

We are promoting the same messages about lifestyle, workforce, investment readiness, opportunity. For an example see Population Growth in Rural Victoria: Opportunities and Actions (final report, Rural Councils Victoria July 2018).

Taking pride in our small size in regards to population may provide South Australia’s point of difference. Even our largest regional city is less than a quarter of the population of regional cities like Ballarat or Bendigo. Rather than focus on our small size as a negative, we should consider it a positive and competitive advantage.

We are innovators from way back, we are unique, we are welcoming, we are close knit. And we are ready. Our communities, businesses, councils and local government associations have done a significant amount of work already. We have plans and projects ready for investment that will help our regions grow.

In consultation with key stakeholders our region has developed a Limestone Coast Regional Growth Strategy which can be found here: http://www.lclga.sa.gov.au/strategic-activities/limestone-coast- regional-growth-strategy.

The Regional Growth Strategy provides the evidence base, priority areas for focus, strategic directions, and potential actions required to drive future growth in the Limestone Coast region, encompassing the seven local government areas of City of , District Council of Grant, Kingston District Council, Naracoorte Lucindale Council, , Tatiara District Council and .

The Strategy proposes that a well-coordinated, collaborative, and strategically focused effort can set the Limestone Coast region on the path to deliver a 20 per cent lift in economic performance, adding $700 million in growth annually and more than 5,700 new jobs by 2026.

Based on analytical work and extensive consultation with regional stakeholders the strategy defines six priority areas for focus:

1. Invigorate the working age population, by attracting and retaining more people across the region to fill key skills gaps and support vibrant and sustainable regional communities; 2. Building on the region’s competitive advantage in agribusiness; 3. Capturing employment opportunities in growing sectors like healthcare and social assistance; 4. Supporting the development of a vibrant business ecosystem; 5. Region-wide collaboration to develop a more coordinated market; and 6. Securing investment to deliver regional infrastructure priorities enabling growth.

Priority projects include the development and implementation of a migration program to attract new people into the region, as well as the proactive identification and targeting of immediate skills and labour shortages with labour attraction initiatives that promote regional employment opportunities.

In closing I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Community Advisory Panel Members for coming to the Limestone Coast and listen to our region’s comments, concerns and ideas on the matter of regional development.

The forum was a great opportunity to share information and hear the Panel’s own experiences, as people living in regional SA and from consulting other regions.

I appreciate the opportunity to provide comment on the Regional Development Strategy. I would be pleased to provide further information and can be contacted on mobile 0417 765 549, or by email to [email protected].

Yours faithfully,

Anne Champness Chief Executive Officer