25 July 2019 Regions SA Re: Regional Development Strategy Discussion Paper Primary Industries and Regions SA GPO Box 1671 Adelaide, SA 5001 Dear Sir/Madam, Re: Regional Development Strategy consultation On behalf of Tatiara District Council, 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 Australia 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 South Australia, 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 region 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 City of Adelaide, 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