THE trend from governments to accept and manage the decline in rural areas, rather than show some vision and develop the regions is an ingrained behaviour.
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan is a case in point where the government has given the community the numbers on direct job losses, but no plans on how these losses might be countered, or how these communities might be further developed.
It was a similar picture when, under a Labor government, national parks were created out of Yenga and Toorale stations. With the national parks the government made a selling point about how tourism would create a heap of jobs for the regions – an obvious furphy.
In some ways, however, the government is merely reflecting the short-sightedness of the Australian community as a whole. Our Deputy Prime Minister Minister Barnaby Joyce might not be perfect, but he has at least had the political will to have a go at relocating some government bodies, including the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority and three Research and Development Corporations (RDCs).
Yet, vocal opposition continues from Canberra, including from Labor and the unions. This is surely short-term pettiness, as we have here a politician showing some visionary aspirations for change, but the do-gooders are trying their best to knock it on the head.
The gains from these moves aren’t about what happens next week or next month. They’re about what happens in five years or a decade from now.
Mr Joyce has highlighted other successful moves, such as the Western Australian Department of Water moving from Perth to Mandurah, Victoria’s WorkSafe moving from Melbourne to Geelong and the NSW Department of Mineral Resources moving from Sydney to Maitland.
However, the best example might be the move of the NSW Department of Primary Industries to Orange in 1992. These days, you can see the Sydney money that has since moved to the region, with a number of businesses now in the main street that otherwise would have had little reason to be there.
And of course, other businesses have gradually followed – Paraway Pastoral and The Land are examples of the commercial sector following suit.
The change doesn’t happen instantly, but if government shows vision and takes the first step, the crowd will eventually follow.
