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Fixing the failed state that is regional Australia

Ian Wallace

by Ian Wallace

11 Oct 05:35am

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Filed under: Abs, Australian Cities, Julia Gillard, Regional Australia, Rob Oakeshott

39 comments

The question of whether city or country is best has been an ongoing debate for a long time. I heard it often as I worked in Brisbane for thirty years and prior to that as I lived and worked in various regional, rural and remote locations in Queensland for extended periods.

Men gather around to watch the Murray-Darling report announcement at a pub in Griffith NSW. Photo: Stuart McEvoy

In the 1200’s Marco Polo a merchant and great traveller declared cities were best. For twenty-four years Polo journeyed to and from Venice to China along the Great Silk Road. On his travels he encountered many great cities including Constantinople, Baghdad and Beijing and he realised that cities were far more important to the economy of the Silk Road than the country areas through which it passed.

In 2010 in Australia the independent federal politicians are about to “turbo-charge” regional and rural Australia according to their spokesperson Rob Oakeshott. They have secured a new $10 billion regional investment fund in return for their votes and they seek to prove Marco Polo’s assessment wrong. For them the country is at least as important as the city.

An advocate for some regional communities is Fred Chaney a former federal politician. He recently described country Australia as a failed state because of failing infrastructure that cannot support unplanned growth, inadequate housing, an escalating cost of living and environmental degradation on a scale hardly able to be comprehended. The regions according to Chaney have been neglected for years as the democratic processes became concentrated on the needs of cities.

The supporters of country Australia including Oakeshott and Chaney face a dilemma. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the trend towards urbanisation is stronger in Australia than in many other parts of the world with up to 88 percent of the population projected to be living in cities by 2050.  This phenomenon will continue to create a massive wealth gap between city and country.

Australia’s largest cities are growing at over 2.4 per cent per annum. People are accepting that the sustainable, higher density environment of a city adds to their quality of life and that cities will continue to be the wealthiest, most lively, innovative and diverse places in Australia. Even massive national investments in telecommunications such as the National Broadband Network (NBN) or other infrastructure such as fast rail networks will not equalize the balance of power between city and country.

Melbourne with its Central Activity Districts and Brisbane with CityShape are currently planning to manage continued high population growth with an impact on lifestyle, traffic, the environment and high density residential development. There is more choice for people who move to the city and are prepared to forgo the garden and sell the car in exchange for a home closer to work, entertainment precincts and parks.

Despite the best efforts of the independent politicians, people who choose to live in the country must accept that there is a disparity between city and country in access to public services. In many regions including isolated indigenous and non-indigenous communities there will continue to be deep poverty. Not only will young people from the country aspire to move to the city but city people will not aspire to live in places they perceive to be unattractive.

As regional populations continue in decline with more residents gravitating to major cites it will be interesting to see if the new paradigm embraced by the Federal Government and the independents can reverse the trend and make a fundamental difference for country living.

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39 comments

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    • acotrel says:

      05:32am | 11/10/10

      ‘Australia’s largest cities are growing at over 2.4 per cent per annum. People are accepting that the sustainable, higher density environment of a city adds to their quality of life and that cities will continue to be the wealthiest, most lively, innovative and diverse places in Australia.’

      What makes you believe the growth in our cities is ‘sustainable’?  And when you mention ‘quality of life’, you forget the stresses due to the overcrowding, traffic, personal isolation, threats to our well-being, and lack of community spirit which are endemic in our cities?  The current draft plan to increase environmental flows in the murray-gouldburn- darling rivers, appears to have been developed with no regard to the needs of displaced people.  It’s as far back as the Whitlam govt. since our leaders have made positive statements about decentralisation, and development of Australian industry.  We obviously need a peak planning body to help us cope with the effects of globalisation - the loss of businesses from the bush to offshore.  We need a more positive approach to education in the bush, off-campus through the NBN.  We need to government to intervene with a management team when businesses try to move offshore, and we need a system of subsidies when city businesses are willing to move to the bush.  We need to ‘work smarter, not harder’ in our businesses, and really embrace risk management in the major areas - qualitity, safety, environment, security. We must not wait for the next crisis to act! Of course the coalition could never go down that path, it would be political suicide for them to follow the lead of the 70s ALP? So we can expect little from Julia who always reacts to the coalitions ‘initiatives’, or what there are of them?

      Reply

    • Adam Diver says:

      07:33am | 11/10/10

      If we improve our education in the bush via an NBN, and have highly qualified people, where exactly are they going to work? I assume once again it will be the city.

      “Government to intervene” no thanks.

      Anyway this debate always goes on and its always the same result, it comes down to personal choice.

      Do you prefer higher incomes, higher traffic, higher crme, higher density, better services and entertainment or more space, time, less traffic, less services, less stress and less entertainment.

      That being said, what was the point of the article???

    • The Badger says:

      10:06am | 11/10/10

      Adam
      You know what they say about people that assume - don’t you?
      If education is improved via an NBN, then have you ever considered that people can live where they like and work via an NBN?

      I agree with your “what is the point of the article statement.

    • Jade says:

      02:00pm | 11/10/10

      I find it most strange that I never felt more isolated, less community spirit and that my well-being was more threatened by the community than the 18 months I spent in regional Queensland. Since being back in the city, I have felt a part of a vibrant, growing and inclusive community, and felt that there is always someone to talk to and someone to listen.

      I found that the major barrier most city people face when moving to the country is the enormous chip on the shoulder most country people have towards us. If we don’t immediately rush out to buy RM Williams belt buckles and embrace denim and flannel as the most stylish look ever created, we are ignored and seen as “not fitting in”. If we do not embrace every aspect of the country town and immediately declare that we never intend to leave, we are shunned immediately by the town. If we dare to take a holiday back to the city to visit friends and family we are given the suggestion that we should stay there.

      Until country people become more welcoming to their city cousins, and more willing to provide them with the atmosphere and amenities that they are used to, they will continue to drive them away. When I say amenities, I am not suggesting that nightclubs, 5 star restaurants and mcdonalds be mandatory. But when a shop says it will be open til a certain time, be open until that time. Or provide a sign that explains why you aren’t. Be more professional in your dealings with people. Give city people a helping hand to integrate. Don’t stare at me because I continue to wear high heels and nice dresses and clothes, and teach your children not to stare. Accept difference - that is all that most city people ask.

    • BookerT says:

      05:42am | 11/10/10

      Fixing regional Australia isn’t going to be easy. In NSW the metro areas are suffering as well. Maybe the problem is that we lack good policy makers. I don’t know if things are going to change but families will suffer.

      Reply

    • Peter Oataway, Hay, NSW says:

      09:05am | 11/10/10

      They stopped making Penny Farthing bicycles because the wheels were to big…Sydney and Melbournes urban sprawls are heading towards a similiar unsustainable fate.

    • acotrel says:

      06:50pm | 11/10/10

      ‘“Government to intervene” no thanks.’

      So you wouldn’t want Peter Garrett to more closely control government sponsored projects?  I thought that’s what you lot were on about when you were intent on slandering him about the pink batts ‘negligence’?

    • T.Chong says:

      07:01am | 11/10/10

      Another problem is just how small the regional centers are.
      In our region, the big towns Bathurst, Dubbo, Wellington , Tamworth arent too bad for infrastructure / facilities. Its when you go to the smaller towns like Mendoran , Gulgong , Duneedoo Coonabarrabran, Coonamble ( I know, I’m a bad speller)  etc that you tend to see lack of services.
      The problem is there simply aint the number of people to make the delivery of services worthwhile (economically) .
      The old hobby horse of town based hospital boards would have only made the situation worse. The ‘if Shelbyville gets a MRI scanner, than Ogdenville needs to get one too’ type of mentality is very much alive and well, and just as unfeasable.
      Its all about the money, folks, and how to stop any new money heading for the pork barrel.

      Reply

    • Dash says:

      01:33pm | 11/10/10

      It’s all OK Chongy, the NBN will save us all! All the people in the bush will be able to do their own operations from home over the NBN. Having a heart attack? No need to see a doctor any more just jump on the NBN.

      What a shame is wasn’t all about stopping taxpayers money heading for the trough that ALP backed builders had their noses in under Gillard’s school halls program. Or perhaps stopping and new money going into fixing the insulation pink batts fiasco!

    • acotrel says:

      02:40pm | 11/10/10

      Dash:
      ‘What a shame is wasn’t all about stopping taxpayers money heading for the trough that ALP backed builders had their noses in under Gillard’s school halls program. Or perhaps stopping and new money going into fixing the insulation pink batts fiasco! ‘

      The school halls projects are managed my state purchasing authorities
      and the estimated rorting by GRUB contractors amounted to under 6% of total funding - less than happens with most commercial projects!  Peter Garrett is not responsible for enforcing state OHS laws! When the Liberal Party makes perverse and slanderous claims, you will believe what you want to believe!  -  i.e. exactly what your ideology dictates!

    • Dash says:

      04:00pm | 11/10/10

      acotrel, in NSW the state purchasing authority was the ALP! And we had a reported case of the NSW state government offering bribes to schools to keep information out of the media.

      Principles were unable to contract who they wanted. As a result, they ended up with ALP approved builders who over charged! And Ms Gillard was in charge and responsible.

      Where does your “estimated 6%” come from? From another Labor “independent” committee?? And does the fact the ALP told you that make rorting of taxpayers money acceptable? Is it as acceptable as the millons watsed to fix the ALPs pink batts fiasco?

      The findings of the commission are plain for all to see acotrel. And they point to rorting of taxpayers money under Gillards watch. Not perverse slander, merely facts. You may also find there was a suprising lack of information available in states outside NSW.

      Your comments are typical of the ALP. Appoint a committee and blame them when it all goes belly up. Cover the ALP arse at all times. You blame the builders and installers yet it was the ALP who put the program and the system in place. The people don’t want government by committee and they want their gvernment to take responsibility. Stop forming committees staked with ALP stooges, stop making out their independent and then blame them when things go wrong.

    • Tom says:

      05:27pm | 11/10/10

      @ acotrel your logic is plain stupid. If Garrett gave money to blind people to learn to fly, you would be claiming it was not Garrett’s fault that they killed women and children when they crashed the planes.

      Yes acotrel, it is Garrett’s fault. Stop defending the indefensible. The buck stops with the Minister. The program was a failure. Show some spine and stop shifting Labor blame.

    • The Badger says:

      07:35pm | 11/10/10

      Good analogy Tom
      Have you ever been to school or did you learn all you needed to know out behind the woodpile?

      That has to be the dumbest analogy I have ever seen on The Punch

      and that’s saying something.

    • Peter Oataway, Hay, NSW says:

      08:02am | 11/10/10

      A small but significient step would be to fix the standard of secondary education in rural areas, which for many years has suffered by the government giving over generous boarding scholl subsidies to some people who are hardly isolated and on school bus runs who opt to send their kids away with the aid of a government subsidy from the local community for a secondary education after sending there kids in to the local primary school.
      I’m not talking about the geuinely isolated kids over 30km from the secondary school, I’m talking about ones that live closer and who have the school bus drive past them.
      In the case of Hay, NSW some inside the actual township receive this subsidy and send their kids away to be schooled with the aid of it.
      And as a consequence our local community then misses out on having those teaching resources in our local community adding to our local economy and a sense of looking down on our localy schooled kids is sometimes sensed….and the part I think realy sucks is that it is government subsidised elitism.

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      10:08am | 11/10/10

      NBN?

    • Jade says:

      02:01pm | 11/10/10

      I would agree, but suggest that 30km even isn’t all that isolated. Many children in the city travel well over that distance to attend secondary schools.

    • dancan says:

      08:32am | 11/10/10

      What’s the use of fixing a place no one wants to live in?

      Reply

    • Old Cobber says:

      11:38am | 11/10/10

      If the bush is so great why does"t Chaney and his ilk live there?
      As for the great savior NBN, You could put a computer under every gum tree and no -one would give a stuff because any half bright person under 30 wants out to pursue a fulfilling life and career in a gregarious society. The rest either can"t or wont use it so there"s$60 thousand millions down the drain
      Corporate farms and efficient agriculturists and horticulturists could produce more food than ever wiyhout subsidies.

    • Will says:

      09:06am | 11/10/10

      City v country - apples v oranges. Both have their own types of benefits and both are integral to a “whole” society - it is a symbiotic relationship. Sure, the city may be the more economically viable of the two, but ultimately the city needs the country more than the country needs the city. Why? Simply because the country are our primary producers.
      THAT is why we have to subsidise accordingly. It’s only when the balance of resources goes too much in one direction that the problems will occur…

      Reply

    • Bec says:

      11:14pm | 11/10/10

      I agree with you. We need both, and both have benefits. As a country girl living in the city, I can really appreciate how amazing it is to have shops that are open on Sundays and public transport! It’s awesome! But, I hate how everyone in the city is so unfriendly and always rushing around. Nothing beats fresh air, the beach or mountains, and knowing all your neighbors smile

    • nosthow says:

      09:54am | 11/10/10

      Yes the old National Party have done well havnt they Ian ? A faded relic of the once relevant Country Party the Nationals still spruik they have the Country at heart but in actual fact have abandoned the Country long ago in their effort to encompass National meaning - and failed dismally. The best thing the Nationals could do is to actually merge with the Liberals and unite under 1 leader. That would leave poor old Trussy a chance to retire and expose guys like Joyce even more for the pidgeons they are. Labor look after regional Australia today bette rthan anyone and will so even more from now on.

      Reply

    • Jim says:

      11:34am | 11/10/10

      “Labor look after regional Australia today bette rthan anyone and will so even more from now on” - I lol’d

    • nosthow says:

      12:41pm | 11/10/10

      @Jim - thats why Gillard has appointed Simon Crean as the Regional Australia/Regional Development Minister Jim - catch up fella !

    • Jim says:

      01:19pm | 11/10/10

      ...and your point is? There were a few worse people she could have placed in that role, but only a few. Crean is synonymous with Unions, which have been destroying industries in country areas for half a century now, and now the Labor/Union/Green Party is trying it’s best to destroy the biggest employer in country areas (mining) and the biggest in the Murray-Darling area (farming).
      Again, what is your point?

    • Nicole says:

      01:21pm | 11/10/10

      Simon Crean looking after regional Australia….......What a truly frightening thought.

    • MarK says:

      03:17pm | 11/10/10

      When are the Greens and Labor going to merge under the one true leader that good sort Sarah Hanson-Young?

      I would like to go on a few environmental studies of the Murray-Darling with her.

      She has it all

      Youth

      Exuberance

      Nifty divergence from reality

      A laissez faire attitude to economic essentials

      A true class warrior for the environment that.

      Albanese will be hoping for a true merger real soon. He will need to be the first GreenLabor candidate for his seat or kiss his career goodbye.

    • nosthow says:

      04:17pm | 11/10/10

      @Jim - I will help you out fella seeing as how you are a Liberal - my point clearly is the Coalition have abandoned Regional Australia and Labor hasnt !
      Tony did make a token effort to embrace Regional Australia during the election campaign by saying” I love the bush” but that was it !

    • persephone says:

      06:53am | 12/10/10

      It’s OK, MarK, I don’t like SHY much either.

      Don’t know whether she shouldn’t have entered politics so young, or whether she just shouldn’t have entered politics!

    • Jim says:

      11:44am | 11/10/10

      I’m a born and bred country boy…one thing that really gets under my skin is when large, non-capital-cities like Newcastle, Townsville, Central Coast etc get tagged ‘regional’ when it suits. If the government of the day wants to pat itself on the back about regional development they spruik about things like the ring road in Townsville (which, by the way Ms Gillard, was finished about 3 years ago!). This is NOT regional development, this is adding to the urbanisation of our coastal fringes. It does not help the person in a small country town that waits 4 hours for an ambulance or a police car to turn up, nor does it help a family who has to give up a weeks pay just to get a sick kid to a hospital. I now live in Maitland, I do not consider it regional at all, yet somehow it is tagged that way.
      And to the people who hijack every Punch thread with NBN-this, NBN-that…grow a brain!!! What the hell is an NBN going to do for education and employment? Here’s a hint - NOTHING! The internet is already used in education, and it works great…but Little Johnny won’t get his homework done any quicker after the $43bn white elephant rolls out.

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      01:23pm | 11/10/10

      I know it’s difficult for a born and bred country boy to understand things that aren’t covered in dirt and flies.
      You’ll just have to trust those that don’t like flies crawling up their noses on this one Jim. Too bad you didn’t take advantage of all those education opportunities that you think currently exist on your back of beyond broadband network.
      Little Johnny’s too busy feeding the hogs to bother with his homework I suspect.

    • Jim says:

      03:56pm | 11/10/10

      So typical of a Labor thug Badger…resorting to personal attacks against anyone who doesn’t stick you on a podium. For your information I have two degrees - one in science and one in applied maths; both obtained while using the internet in it’s early days of clunky dial-up. Run away now and play with your Union buddies.

    • Peter says:

      11:45am | 11/10/10

      What is the point of this article? To create unnecessary diviseness between city and country? Really, I can’t see it achieving anything else. Just let the country (and the city for that matter) be…

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      02:47pm | 11/10/10

      I live in Benalla, 200 Km from Melbourne, !00Km from Aldonga. I’m educated and trained as an industrial chemist - too bad if I want a job.  However the town is excellent, I have more friends than I ever had in Melbourne.  The secret lies in getting to know the local ladies hairdresser.

    • Old Cobber says:

      03:55pm | 11/10/10

      @acotrol.  Yairrs, you’ve hit the hammer on the nail; is that bloke called Tim?

    • shep says:

      05:05pm | 11/10/10

      What a nasty bigotted little close minded person you are Jade…. I suspect that it was not your pretty little frocks and high heels that the rural hillbillies in their fannels, RM and big belt buckles were staring at .... more likely they could sense the insecurity and total self-importance radiating from you, not to mention your condescending attitude to anything out of the big smoke.

      Its always been my experience that you get out of your environment exactly what you put into it - and whether you’re from the city or the country most people can pick an arse from a mile away!!!

      Reply

    • jade says:

      11:00pm | 11/10/10

      Funnily enough I went out there ready to embrace the country. I volunteered at the local Girl Guide Unit as a leader, attended football games, volunteered at school fetes and other functions and took every opportunity to become part of the community. The things I was told constantly which prevented me from being accepted was the way I dressed, the music I listened to (I got laughed at and ridiculed for asking for a song which was actually in the charts at the time at a function), and the fact that I dared to return on weekends and holidays to catch up with friends and family. Their attitude was that I should love the town so much that if my friends and family didn’t want to travel 900 kms to see me, that I shouldn’t have any further interest in seeing them.

      I dealt with bore water without complaint, unlike most of the people moving from the city out there.  I also dealt with the minimal options at the grocery store (though I also got complained about for ordering fairtrade coffee and chocolate online rather than purchasing slave-produced stuff in the local stores - I like to purchase ethically where possible, something they couldn’t grasp).

      Instead of accepting the few “different” choices I made, the people in the town simply decided that I wasn’t trying hard enough to fit in. I have never experienced that in the city. In fact, most city people are incredibly welcoming, open to new and diverse friends,  and accepting of people’s quirks and choices.

      And I find it very hard to accept that I was the bigot in a town whose attitude to the indigenous population was “They stay on their side of the rail line, and we stay on ours and that’s what’s best for everyone.”

    • fairsfair says:

      09:22am | 12/10/10

      Jade, as a regional Australian and someone who’s family shifted to a small town when I was a kid - I feel your pain. We still aren’t part of the town, even though mum and dad have lived there for 20 years. You see it is all about how many relations you have and how much you can contribute to the who is marrying who chat each week and how you and your family fit into that. It is a dynasty. Why? Because there is just nothing else to do. So they focus on clothes and lifestyle and the business of others. It is all a front though beacuse they are sad and miserable.

      You must keep in mind that it does cut both ways. I have done the opposite. I lived in a city for 2 years and returned home. Why? Because it just isn’t me. I didn’t hate it and I certainly don’t bad mouth it - but it just wasn’t for me and I prefer home - but it certainly is lacking on some basic, basic areas. The one thing I did notice was that the city was simply a lot of small towns jammed together. I met people who had not ventured into the CBD (the real city) for over ten years. They never did their shopping anywhere other than their suburbs shopping centre and sh*tcanned their neighbouring suburb. They had developed small town mentality within a piece of a bigger puzzle. It is just the nature of us.

      In the broader scheme, people need to realise that there are fundamental differences between the two camps and we can’t hate each other for it. And the world would be bloody boring if it wasn’t the case! I also have to point out that one such fundamental difference is the free trade coffee thing. If you went into that store and perhaps asked why they don’t stock it or even tried to have a conversation about it - the rollerdoors will come down - and I don’t blame them for that. Without causing offence to anyone - there are bigger issues in their world for regional and country Australians (for all Australians for that matter) than ensuring you have an ethical latte.

      I think that is the fundamental issue. City people (and not all, but those generally with the loudest voice) choose to invest their time and money in “fighting the good fight” which in 2010 is based on trend and social popularity. Australia has grown from nothing, but we apepar to have got to a point where we think the cities are just about OK, lets worry about little Colombian boys picking coffee. I think we should focus our attention on our own backyard for a bit. That is not to say that I don’t care for little boys picking coffee - but that is Colombia’s problem. Buy Australian coffee from Skybury or Jacques - it is most definately Free Trade and you’d be supporting regional Australia.

      Lets focus on our roads and our hospitals and our people (even if we just give it a crack for a short period of time) and see the differences that it will make. I am certain that it will also have follow on effect to the cities.

      I had refrained from commenting on this article because it appears to just stir the pot. But I wanted to assure you that not all regional Aussies are akin to the ones you dealt with. Please don’t oppose money for hospitals and schools because you met some bigotted pr*cks - there are heaps of them in the city too.

    • acotrel says:

      03:34pm | 12/10/10

      I lived in Melbourne for 57 years - I don’t want to be there now, and I regret not having moved earlier.  Some things I miss include the opportunity for further tertiary education, and being stuck in the traffic isn’t one of them.  Neither is being crammed into a crowded train with smelly drunks.

      Reply

    • Nick says:

      04:24pm | 09/03/12

      How many times have the Sydney Cross-City and Lane-Cove tunnels gone into recvieership now? ‘User-pays’ in such context just means the redistribution of wealth upwards from the pockets of suburban joes commuting to work on toll roads from Kellyville, into the pockets of, well, share holders and investors of the Eastern Suburbs.Much of what you say is IMO, unobjectionable, but here the picture is more complex. User-based charging for roads has a similar rationale as carbon pricing (the imposition of externalities on the commons) regardless of who operates the road. I strongly disagree with the model for building these roads, which was itself an attempt to reconcile the bookkeeping with budget fetishism about balanced budgets and cultural predispositions to the virtues of the private sector , but the point remains valid. (A better model where a road really was the least worst option would have entailed contracting the road and having the state underwrite the competitive tender cost, funding it out of tolls to the state).These long pay roads are an artefact of making urban sprawl economically feasible, and they underpin land values for those in the outer-suburbs   places like Lindsay. Abolition of tolls of course doesn’t really help them because what they save in money cost they give up in time cost. In the end though, the whole build more toll roads policy (as opposed to urban consolidation, mass transit, better residential/transit interfaces) is an attempt to make unsustainable conceptions of cities temporarily less implausible.

      Reply
 
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