Leading the regional renaissance

RCA is the acronym for Regional Capitals Australia.

It is a simple name that - unlike many – accurately represents who it is: regional capitals from around Australia.

The group works to focus the clans in Canberra on what lays beyond the big smoke: those country regions that link the nation - and RCA would argue - make the nation.

There are 51 regional towns and cities in RCA representing eight million people.

It is an impressive reach for any organisation and may go some way to explaining why it’s now attracting serious attention.

Today, Sydney and Melbourne are splitting the seams of their tight boundaries. They daren’t bend over.

Out in the ‘bush’ meanwhile, the story of towns and farms in decline is well known. 

It has become almost ritual for young adults to move away and stay away. The bright lights, top universities, global back-packer destinations and job options beckon with frenzy.

Under-resourced infrastructure and the increasing costs of fuel and transportation make it an easy decision for big companies to set up closer to capital cities, integrated transport systems, ports, airports and people. Add to that an ageing nation demanding proximity to worlds-best hospitals and medical care.

But RCA can not only see change, it can smell it coming from just over them thar hills.

It understands that the regions are not a problem, they are a solution to bulging cities and their frazzled families looking for fresh air and freedom.

The regions want to grow, they need to grow, and they must do it in a meaningful, considered and supported way.  

Yet, country regions are also genetically pre-determined to be cautious of the bigger-is-better mentality.  They’ve seen the smog swelling on the horizon and don’t like it.

That said, they also see vacant shopfronts and innately know there is safety in numbers.

In reality, it is not as easy as simply saying ‘go live in the country’. The country must equally be somewhere they can live - and want to stay.

For the past three years, as the Mayor of Ballarat, I have been on the RCA Board and most recently it’s Chair.

Along with board members from the likes Rockhampton in Northern Queensland, or Tamworth in country New South Wales – we have sung a united song, in harmony, for the future of regional cities.

It seems our Opus for the Regions has started to resonate.

At one of the forums I led, the Business Council of Australia was invited to jointly discuss plans for funding regional areas, including regional deals and priority cities.

This week, the Chief Executive of the Business Council, Jennifer Westacott, spoke to the National Press Club.  Her topic? Creating 10 priority cities in the regions.

Her speech was heard far and wide.  It made headlines.  It was fantastic.

A chorus of voices went up in support – urging a regional destination for the $3.8 billion now promised to be brought forward by the Federal Government for infrastructure projects.

These could be airports, roads, rail or other.

They could be the projects that fashion the renaissance of regional Australia.

It’s very possible that the seed of Ms Westacott’s speech was planted during our collaboration.

Given I am no longer Mayor, Ballarat has been unable to hold the role of RCA Chair which means the new leader, the Mayor of Geraldton, Shane Van Styn, is now tasked with planting even more seeds and watering them, drought or no drought.

I am proud to have led RCA’s direction including this year’s launch of a National Population Plan which, for the first time, includes initiatives to grow regional cities through migration and infrastructure.

We have pressured for the construction of a new $100 million Airport Fund that prioritises investment into regional city airports, recurrent funding for the Faster Rail program, Building Better Regions Fund, mobile blackspot and regional study hubs.

I have also urged RCA’s strategic relationship with the Regional Australia Institute and the Regional University Network.  The latter may be critical.

India is rising as a target for the expansion of regional universities and increased student enrolments. Afterall, it has the largest number of young people of any country: one million Indians turn 18 every month.

Education is just one investment potential.

RCA may have been a quiet warrior for our national economy to date, but it is about to get very noisy in the regions.