Build up the regions post-Covid

For all its heartbreak and hardships, the Covid-19 pandemic has had one upside that could have lasting benefits for the nation. It has coincided with a strengthening of some towns and provincial cities. Regionalisation Minister Bridget ­McKenzie, who returned to cabinet in June after Barnaby Joyce’s return as Nationals leader, is not the first Australian politician to develop a population policy to encourage businesses and families to move to the bush. Her vision of regional cities growing to more than a million people in coming decades – she nominated Townsville and Toowoomba in Queensland and Wagga Wagga in NSW – is overly ambitious, at least for now. The largest of those she mentioned, Townsville, is still edging upwards towards 200,000 people.

But Senator McKenzie’s goal to build on Covid-19 driving “once-in-a-century” structural change, with net ­migration to the regions of 45,000 in the year to March, makes sense. She is on the right track when she says the process has to be driven by private enterprise. To that end, the minister is working with the Business Council of Australia and other industry bodies to ensure the government can identify gaps in infrastructure. Many regional cities are well served with universities and airports. Fast transport links to larger centres and water resources are also vital. Without pork-barrelling, encouraging private investment in enterprises to add value to local primary production would help. If the initiative is to succeed, the government must do better than past decentralisation policies that involved moving government departments from Canberra to the regions.

In 2016, ­Mr Joyce moved the chemical and pesticides regulator to his electorate of New England. A half-century ago, the Whitlam government envisaged building Albury-Wodonga into a bustling city of about 300,000 people. But its push failed to gain momentum. It is businesses and job opportunities, ultimately, as well as the chance to buy affordable housing and work from home while holding city-based jobs, that influence families and individuals to stay put in the regions or to move there. Good internet is key. Many people also are drawn by the sense of community they find in smaller cities.