Infrastructure, healthcare key to bush future
Developing better infrastructure and increasing basic health services are key to boosting liveability in rural communities and bridging the divide between the city and the bush.
Developing better infrastructure and increasing basic health services are key to boosting liveability in rural communities and bridging the divide between the city and the bush, Western Australian business figures say.
Poor infrastructure, particularly the state’s regional roads, was a recurring theme during panel discussions at The Australian’s Bush Summit in Perth on Monday.
Rick Ford, the manager of Hancock Agriculture’s Fossil Downs station, said the condition of roads connecting farming and mining communities with cities and ports was limiting the economic potential of the state.
“We’ve got a national highway from Kununurra to Broome that has 11 single-lane bridges,” he said.
“That’s a national highway. It’s pretty scary. We’ve lost lives up there and there’s going to be more.”
He also said the lack of a deep sea port and reliance on tides was also limiting the ability to transport products to the markets that sought them.
Kimberley Agricultural Investments general manager Jim Engelke said he wanted to see agriculture expand into other parts of the Kimberley to provide jobs, particularly for the region’s Indigenous population.
“If you look across the north, and I wake up everyday and go to work and see Indigenous disadvantage, I do know that where there’s investment and economic activity, at least you’ve got a pathway,” he said.
Pastoralists and Graziers’ Association president Tony Seabrook was critical of the West Australian government’s spending on rural and regional roads.
He said raising awareness of dangerous roads and infrastructure with the government was almost “impossible”.
“Our farm feeds 5000 people, yet we can’t get an audience with the Minister for Transport to do something about the road from York,” Mr Seabrook said.
The mayor of the mining town of Karratha said local governments needed to be given more power to generate their own income so they can help develop their towns.
Mayor Peter Long said the liveability divide between country towns and capital cities was “getting worse”.
He said councils needed to be given the power to drive the prosperity of their towns by building homes and creating conditions for populations to grow and businesses to thrive.
“It comes down to generating our own income,” Mr Long said.
He also suggested giving councils a greater share of the GST that came from their regions was a solution to increasing living standards.
The summit also heard about the poor state of healthcare in regional areas.
WA Country Health Service chairman Neale Fong said the state’s regional healthcare staffing remained in “crisis” despite the best efforts of governments.
Dr Fong said access to healthcare would always be the No.1 issue in making regional towns liveable, but attracting and retaining staff remained the most difficult issue facing regional health services, and merely lifting the wages on offer was not a solution to a thorny problem.
“It’s not always about the money – sometimes it’s a simple thing like having a decent house,” he said.
“The No.1 issue for West Australian Country Health at the moment is the security of staff accommodation.
“And hats off to governments that are trying to work up some incentives – not just for doctors, but for our allied health people and for nurses as well.”
WA Nationals leader Mia Davies said the government also needed to focus on broader services beyond health and education to ensure regional centres could attract and retain workers.
“Too often I think governments come along in an election cycle and say ‘here, you can have money for a school’.
“But then you never see them again for another for years,” she said.
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