The pandemic has been a control-alt-delete moment in our lives

The #wfh revolution: all we need is an internet connection

In 1989 I released a demographics report ranking the fastest-growing, and fastest declining, municipalities in Australia. It struck a chord with media and business, and I discovered an aptitude for talking about the stories behind the numbers. Many similar reports, commentaries and invitations to speak in local communities followed, across Australia and internationally. What I learnt wasn’t so much the differences between places and audiences, but rather the similarities. I found that people in South Africa, for example, are just as concerned about the loss of youth from their communities, especially from the regions, as we are in Australia.

This is a familiar story. From the 1970s, young Australians drifted en masse from the regions to capital cities and beyond to places like London. It became a rite of passage for colonials. In small communities, the effects were devastating. Shops, churches, sporting clubs struggled to survive. The trend seemed unstoppable. Twenty-somethings started to make other choices, including the pursuit of city-based tertiary education. For young women, who would traditionally stay and marry locally, the city offered opportunities for higher education or jobs in health, education and professional services.

Not all regions declined; some thrived. There’s always the need for at least one hub for banking, retail, machinery sales and servicing. And regions close to the major cities eventually burgeoned because they were within reach of city types wanting fashionable weekenders or even a permanent treechange.

And so for the past 50 years the fate of rural and remote Australia has been largely shaped by a demographic megatrend which, until the pandemic, showed no sign of abating. But now I wonder whether the unrelenting allure of the capital city has weakened. There is evidence of an exodus of sorts from Melbourne during the lockdowns, and young people are staying put and injecting life into towns and regions. The long drought broke in the summer of 2020 just prior to the arrival of the pandemic and the regions are greening, blooming, booming. The pandemic has convinced Australians they really should be buying locally produced and owned products. Closed borders opened up opportunities for Australian workers to consider a wider range of jobs, some of which may be in the regions.

But the real game-changer for regional Australia is our newfound ability to work from home. It was always the sticking point for city types contemplating a country lifestyle. Skyrocketing city house prices prompt younger workers looking for the safety and the security of home ownership to consider a full-scale regional relocation.

The pandemic will change the way we work, how we trade, with whom we form alliances. For many, it has been a control-alt-delete moment prompting them to rethink their life, where they live, the job they’re in, and maybe to whom they are partnered.

One thing is for sure. We Australians are not going back to the pre-Covid world of unrelenting commuting, remaining in unfulfilling jobs and being tied to a lifestyle that offers no reprieve for the young and the young-at-heart in their search for a better way of life. Maybe the demographic megatrend of the regions tithing their “best and brightest” to the city really is being challenged. And if the outcome is that more people are happier, there is less unproductive commuting, and a greater sense of household security, surely this will deliver a better Australia.