PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA Rural and Regional Committee PARLIAMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE VIC 3002 AUSTRALIA T 03 8682 2884 or 1300 787 202 (VIC only), F 03 8682 2858 W www.parliament.vic.gov.au/rrc, E [email protected] INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND NATURE OF DISADVANTAGE AND INEQUITY IN RURAL AND REGIONAL VICTORIA SUBMISSION: Anna Dominguez Smith, 760 Telegraph Road, Seymour, Victoria, 3660. Ph: +61357922893, Mob: +61438922893, Fax: +61357921236 Submission: Dear Mr Chairman, Damian Drum and Members of the Committee, This submission intends to convey the message that preventative measures are far superior for community development, than crisis management. I wish to refer you to my previous submission accepted on the 12th April 2006, when the previous Committee met at the Court Room CEACA, Cnr Webster and Downey Streets Alexandra. [See email Attachment I] In it, I responded to three terms of reference. 1. Identifying and examining the factors that influence young people in deciding to remain in or leave the rural communities in which they reside; 2. Identifying and examining the factors that influence young people in deciding whether or not to return to the rural communities in which they have previously resided following the completion of study, travel or other fixed or short term activities in other places, and 3. Developing strategies and recommendations on steps that might be taken to increase the number of young people who decide to remain in or return to rural towns and communities. Along with many other submissions, a Final Report of the RURAL AND REGIONAL SERVICES AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, Final Report, Inquiry into Retaining Young People in Rural Towns and Communities, September 2006, By Authority Government Printer for the State of Victoria, Number 234, Session 2003-06, was issued on the 3rd October 2006. [See email Attachment II] In Chapter Seven headed: Working, Careers & Returning to Rural Communities. 7.40. The Committee considers that further action towards the decentralisation of government employment into rural communities is possible. The advantage of this approach was presented to the Inquiry as a useful way to support rural employment 538 – directly and with the economic flow-on effect to surrounding services and business. 539. 539 Ms Anna Dominguez Smith, Submission, Number 24, 10 April 2006, p. 1; Amongst other contributions this lead to Recommendation 48: That the State Government continue to examine greater means by which public sector employment can be decentralised to both regional centres and into rural communities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My involvement continued with ‘The Seymour We Want’ Committee Inc. [TSWW] as Secretary, then Chairwoman for two terms, from March 2007 till March 2009. 1 PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA Rural and Regional Committee PARLIAMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE VIC 3002 AUSTRALIA T 03 8682 2884 or 1300 787 202 (VIC only), F 03 8682 2858 W www.parliament.vic.gov.au/rrc, E [email protected] INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND NATURE OF DISADVANTAGE AND INEQUITY IN RURAL AND REGIONAL VICTORIA SUBMISSION: Anna Dominguez Smith, 760 Telegraph Road, Seymour, Victoria, 3660. Ph: +61357922893, Mob: +61438922893, Fax: +61357921236 I oversaw the work of our Community Development Co-ordinators and their outcomes, which are all contained in the Evaluation The Seymour We Want, Project Evaluation Performance Story Report conducted by The Regional Development Company P/L and Clear Horizon and submitted to Mitchell Shire Council in November 2008. [See email Attachment III] On page 26 in Appendix One: Time line developed at Evaluation Planning Workshop, it gives a very brief outline of reasons for the actions that needed to be taken by the community, the contributions of State and Local Government and the outcomes from all that effort. A ‘Seymour-Nagambie Advertiser’ newspaper article published around that time, about the Department of Health Services, announced that Seymour had risen from 10th most disadvantaged town to 193rd most disadvantaged. In my final Chairwoman’s Annual Report of 2009 AGM, I set the new committee the challenge to continue the advocacy for Seymour by re-presenting THE CHALLENGE Document. [See email Attachment IV]. Our committee was also informed by a Mitchell Shire Council representative that our project was the model used to help rescue, recover and rebuild after the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfire. Summary: My reasons for referring all this data to this committee is to make this important point:- This is that this information is already there for local, state and federal governments. What is lacking is the follow through by government. We can have as many meetings, consultations, grants and reports as we like, BUT… if we do not take it to the next step i.e., to implement their recommendations, we are wasting valuable time, effort and resources. Conclusion: I would like to refer you to the ground-breaking work being developed at Community Indicators Victoria, McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, School of Population Health Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Level 5 207 Bouverie St. Carlton. Victoria, Australia 3053. They gather ongoing real-time Census data about the state of Victorian citizens, wherever they are and at what ever level they are at, then evaluate it and make it available to government departments, such as the Department of Planning and Community Development and all Local Government Areas, in an easy-to-digest format, for staff to select and evaluate any aspect of daily life that they care to know, for their projects and programs. The McCaughey Centre has received continued funding to enable it to host the Community Indicators Victoria (CIV) data platform in 2010 and will expand CIV products and services. If CIV’s work is supported and continued they will ensure that the information about ALL VICTORIANS in rural and regional areas is provided so that we have all the necessary support to flourish. 2 PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA Rural and Regional Committee PARLIAMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE VIC 3002 AUSTRALIA T 03 8682 2884 or 1300 787 202 (VIC only), F 03 8682 2858 W www.parliament.vic.gov.au/rrc, E [email protected] INQUIRY INTO THE EXTENT AND NATURE OF DISADVANTAGE AND INEQUITY IN RURAL AND REGIONAL VICTORIA SUBMISSION: Anna Dominguez Smith, 760 Telegraph Road, Seymour, Victoria, 3660. Ph: +61357922893, Mob: +61438922893, Fax: +61357921236 We will not then need a professional advocacy industry nor will we need have the following terms of reference:- (a) examine current evidence of disadvantage in rural and regional Victoria with a view to identifying the social groups most affected by disadvantage; (b) identify any gaps and weaknesses in methods for measuring, recording and capturing information on disadvantage and inequity in rural and regional Victoria; (c) identify the key factors of disadvantage and inequity in rural and regional Victoria, such as access to education, health care, employment opportunities, housing affordability and transport; (d) identify the geographical locations in rural and regional Victoria where disadvantage is most severe with a view to prioritising these areas for future action by Government; (e) identify rural and regional areas of significant disadvantage and inequity that may be masked by the comparative prosperity of surrounding areas; (f) investigate the impact of social and economic trends on the future of rural and regional Victoria in the context of disadvantage; (g) examine current Government responses to rural and regional disadvantage; (h) identify priorities for action by Government to tackle key rural and regional disadvantage issues; (i) examine measures taken at a local level to combat problems of hardship and disadvantage; and (j) investigate approaches in other jurisdictions to combat rural and regional disadvantage. It is with a humble heart that I submit this submission and wish you all the best in your endeavours. Kindest regards, Anna Dominguez Smith [email protected] 760 Telegraph Road, Seymour, Victoria, 3660. Ph: +61357922893, Mob: +61438922893, Fax: +61357921236 3 Rural and Regional Services and Development Committee. Retaining Youth in Rural towns and Communities. Date: 12th April 2006 Location: Alexandra Venue: The Court Room, CEACA, Cnr Webster and Downey Streets Times: 10am - 2:30pm. Introduction Dear Members, My name is Anna Dominguez Smith. I am Secretary of The Seymour We Want Committee Inc. (TSWW) This is a Personal Submission because I am a parent of eight young Victorians. My involvement in our town group and more recently, the Central Ranges Local Learning and Employment Network (CRLLEN), is to have an influence in the development of Seymour, specifically, to enable it to become a city by 2020. This will add balance to the development of rural Victoria. If you look at a map, you see the regional cities of Warnambool, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Wangaratta and Wodonga stretch right across Victoria, but, at Seymour, there is a gap. Why? The recent State Government policies of ‘A Fairer Victoria’ and ‘Maintaining the Advantage’ and the Inquiries into improved access to telecommunications and strengthening communities, when they are implemented, will go some way towards redressing the disadvantage caused by many years of centralizing Government services and benefits. Terms of Reference: 1. Identifying and examining the factors that influence young people in deciding to remain in or leave the rural communities in which they reside; It might be pertinent, at this point, to give a short history lesson of our local area, for the benefit of Members. Up till the Seventies, we had a policy called ‘Decentralisation’, which cross-subsidized basic services and benefits. It was a way of redistributing Australia’s wealth and maintaining populations in the country. It was deemed to be unproductive in the Eighties and therefore, dismantled. By, approximately, 1996 State and Federal Government policy changes had had such a devastating impact on the people of Seymour. Namely, the downsizing of V/Line, the redeployment of the Armoured Tank Division to Darwin.