Regional growth ‘a boon for the nation’

A blueprint to lock in prosperity for regional Australia and close the divide between cities and the bush has forecast national output could grow to $2.3 trillion over the next decade.

Ali Davenport, left, with Jasmine Riddle, of JRS Manufacturing Group, at the Wellcamp Airport outside Toowoomba. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

A blueprint to lock in prosperity for regional Australia and close the divide between cities and the bush has forecast national output could grow to $2.3 trillion over the next decade if the rural population lifts to 11 million.

The Regional Australia Institute will unveil its Regionalisation Agenda 2032 on Tuesday – to improve results across a range of areas including education, housing, health, employment, transport and connectivity.

In a bid to end the nation’s ­trajectory towards “megacities” – with Sydney and Melbourne on trend to hit 10 million people by the end of the century – the RAI conducted economic modelling over 11 years, which demonstrated the benefit of rebalancing population growth to the regions.

According to the modelling, Australia’s economic output could reach $2.3 trillion by 2032 if the regional population lifted to 11 million, which under current projections is forecast to grow from 9.45 million to 10.5 million.

RAI chief executive Liz Richie said the plan would generate $13.8bn more in economic output than under a “business-as-usual” scenario.

“We’ve seen more than a 100 per cent jump in job vacancies in the last 2.5 years,” Ms Ritchie said. “More than 3.7 million ­regional Australians live in a ‘childcare desert’. Regional home-building approvals have declined in five out of the last 10 years. Remote students do half as well as their metropolitan counterparts in NAPLAN.

“These issues are all interlinked, complex and equally as important, so the development of an holistic and integrated framework is a momentous step forward to achieving better outcomes for all.”

The plan sets 20 key targets, including to lift school attainment rates in regional Australia compared with capital cities. Just 54 per cent of regional students completed year 12 last year, compared with 79 per cent in capital cities. This number falls to 47 per cent of students in remote parts of the country. It will also seek to increase the number of regional skilled workers from 73 per cent to 80 per cent and boost workforce participation from 64 per cent to 68 per cent.

In a bid to improve services, the framework aims to increase vacancy rates in regional areas to above 3 per cent, and reduce the number of people living in a ­regional childcare desert to below two million.

 

Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise chief executive Ali Davenport said her regional economy was booming, underpinned by several major infrastructure projects including the inland rail. But many businesses were still crying out for workers.

Ms Davenport, who is working to help facilitate Boeing to build an advanced manufacturing site in Queensland, said the area had a lot of economic potential which should be harnessed.

“Life in regional Australia and Toowoomba is pretty exciting, there’s so much happening in terms of development with inland rail, and transport and logistics, energy,” she said.

“There is so much positivity in the region with major projects ­including Boeing setting up a manufacturing facility.

“However, it still faces major challenges including staff shortages, skilled workers and housing issues.”

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, who will launch the new plan at RAI’s national conference in Canberra on Tuesday, said the institute’s aims were “complex and long-term” and ­argued locally tailored solutions would be critical.