New push to grow regional capitals to reinforce SA economy

There are new calls to build up SA’s regional capitals to boost their communities and the state’s economy. But what do you build for a population that isn’t there yet?

Fedeal Liberal Member for Barker Tony Pasin.

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Supersizing regional cen­tres could play a key role in South Australia’s economic recovery, a new report says.

The state has one of the most concentrated populations in Australia, with more than three in four people living in metropolitan Adelaide.

Infrastructure SA chief executive Jeremy Conway told the Sunday Mail it was important to focus on increasing services in the bush – even if the population was not there yet to justify them.

During the week, the new government agency released a 20-year-strategy highlighting growing challenges for regional areas fighting for additional services while pop­ulation growth was declining.

“We are almost uniquely concentrated into Adelaide,” Mr Conway said.

“The regional population is about 300,000 to 400,000 across an area the size of France and Germany combined. So, it is a very sparse population and doesn’t have any significant regional centre like Wollongong or Bendigo or Toowoomba.

“We think it makes sense to try to grow some of those regional centres.”

Mr Conway said coronavirus had highlighted how services such as telehealth and online learning could be catalysts for more services and infrastructure. He nominated Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Mount Gambier as potential regional hubs.

Mr Conway’s sentiments were supported by Barker MP Tony Pasin, chosen by Prime Minster Scott Morrison to head a parliamentary committee looking into the needs of regional economies.

“It is a fantastic idea to see population growth encouraged in those regional capitals,” Mr Pasin said.

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“There is a need to decentralise our population because cities – particularly Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney – are groaning under the weight of population.

“(But) then we’ve got regional employers … (in SA) that are hamstrung by the inadequate access to labour.”

The Infrastructure SA report said the state was second only to Western Australia in regional productivity.

“Despite their relatively small populations, regional areas contain strong communities and are an important part of the state’s culture and history,” the report said.

“They offer unique visitor experiences, quality produce, some of the world’s greatest wine producing regions and pristine coastlines. As such, they are very productive, accounting for 60–70 per cent of merchandise exports.”