Working from home lets city professionals move to bush and keep their job
City workers fed up with expensive real estate and high cost of living will be incentivised to move to regional NSW after the COVID-19 pandemic showed the possibilities of working remotely.
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An ambitious plan to incentivise professionals to ditch expensive city living and work remotely from the bush will be taken to Scott Morrison as a solution to boost the economy after the virus crisis.
The Nationals are seeking to capitalise on the rapid uptake of working from home technology during the COVID-19 shutdown by using incentives and infrastructure investment to encourage people to take the leap and move out of cities entirely.
Decentralisation Minister Andrew Gee told The Daily Telegraph he was preparing a raft of policies encouraging people to escape to the country.
How pledged to take them to the Prime Minister, who has declared he is in a “harvesting” period for ways to rebuild Australia’s economy after the pandemic.
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“We know that real estate is cheaper in the bush, we know that the lifestyle is unbeatable, but holding people back is wanting to stay with their current firm or finding employment,” Mr Gee said.
“Well, now that we’ve seen what’s possible, we want those people moving to country areas, working from home, and even starting their own business from home.”
Mr Gee said he was looking to facilitate people relocating now, when major employers were already reassessing the need to have all workers based in expensive city offices.
Westpac has reported an increase in productivity among its IT staff working from home, while legal services able to offer advice remotely have also had an increase in output.
“Working from home … was forced upon us, but the benefits have been undeniable, and many businesses have seen productivity increases,” Mr Gee said.
“Im looking at policy options aimed making it easier for people and businesses to work form home with the necessary technology.”
Mr Gee said people relocating from the city to the country would boost struggling regional towns, as more families enrolled their kids in schools, spent locally and reinvigorated communities.
Retaining the technology advances sped up by COVID-19 is also a priority for Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg, who told The Daily Telegraph the Fintech review he was heading up would consider how to make some changes permanent.
“The pandemic has forced people to work differently, research shows about 40 per cent of people can work from home,” he said.
“Some temporary changes could be made permanent … things like video conferencing for legal work, medical care on the phone, AGMs online (and) getting financial advice remotely.”
Mr Bragg said his committee was seeking submissions about which services could continue to be delivered digitally after the pandemic.