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The Regional Divide and the Future of Small Towns

Paul Collits
Manager Regional Policy, New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales

Presentation to the "From Strength to Strength" Regional Development Conference, Timaru, New Zealand, September 2003

> >Speech Notes

Appendix: Different Views on the Condition and Future of Regional Australia

John Anderson:

Recently I was talking to a journalist about country Australia and he asked if I was afraid of One Nation. I replied no, I was not afraid of One Nation, the political entity, but I was afraid of Australia becoming two nations

Stephen Long:

... entire areas disconnected from economic growth and development, characterised by industries vulnerable to closure, workers who lack the requisite skills to compete for jobs in the new knowledge economy and low-income residential zones of permanent poverty, welfare dependence and petty crime (Australian Financial Review, 24-25 October 1998: 22).

Roy Powell:

... I am presenting a bleak picture. It is one that underpins many of the trends affecting rural/regional Australia. Our old structures and systems are not working, we lack scale, and we are losing industries, people and services to the urban areas (Powell 1996: 4)

The Daily Liberal, Dubbo, 16 July 1996:

After all, Trangie is just another small town past the Blue Mountains in a State where west to most people means Penrith

Peter Andren MP:

The pursuit of so-called level playing field policies in recent years has devastated much of our regional industry, while at the same time governments have continually put economics ahead of people. A credit rating from Standard and Poors or Moodys means little to people who can't access a bank, a post office, a taxation office or a Medicare office", The Land, 5 September 1996

Peter Andren MP:

We have no hope of attracting new businesses and industries to country towns while governments continue making cutbacks, The Land, 5 September 1996

Cr Richard Torbay:

We've heard from both (State and Federal) Governments about their support for regional development, but they've made a nonsense out of it by pulling out facilities and resources", Northern Daily Leader, 13 June 1996.

Cr Ian Shaw:

We are trying to get industries here, but I wonder, how can we encourage people to come here if services are continually being cut?, The Land, 22 August, 1996.

John Cobb, formerly NSW Farmers' Association:

I feel once the infrastructure of towns between 3 000 and 7 000 people is destroyed, it erodes the ability of the town to survive - their days are numbered, The Land, 15 August 1996

ALP country delegate:

In the bush, economic rationalism sucks

Max Teichmann:

People in the country feel isolated from urban Australia: taken for granted, rarely consulted, easily overridden by the force of electoral numbers. The party they created is impotent on its own, but a prisoner in alliance with either city party. The media either ignore them or patronise them. They feel powerless (Teichmann 1996: 6).

Jensen:

The time has arrived in Australian history when the future of the Bush is a question of public policy, requiring deliberate discussion and policy development at the highest level

We have two choices, and the choice made will have historical significance. One choice is to continue with our existing policies and programs and to watch the Bush slowly wither on the vine, allowing the market to continue to bring its own solutions...

The other choice is to recognise the problem and to take some action to address or at least alleviate the situation.

Roy Powell:

Regional Australia's future will not happen as a matter of course.

Roy Powell:

Small towns are at the end of the chain with little going for them (Powell 1997: 1).

NSW Minister for State Development Michael Egan:

I believe in the merits of great cities. Sydney will always be dominant. Little towns are going to find it increasingly difficult to survive unless they become suburbs of larger centres, but that's history (Egan in McGregor 1999).

The ABS sums up the plight of small towns thus:

People living in declining towns risk losing their savings, livelihood and support systems as they confront the break-up of their community, loss of jobs, deteriorating infrastructure and declining property values. In addition, declining towns often lose services through the closure of schools, hospitals, retail establishments and banks. Such closures have a direct impact on the health and well being of remaining residents, but they can also have psychological impact, with many seeing the closure of central services as signalling the "death of a town" (ABS 1998: 10).

The State of the Regions report published by National Economics in 1998 summed up the parlous state of many communities in rural regions:

Rural Australia is lagging behind other regions- The population of some inland regions is declining- while others are growing very slowly- The proportion of people living in poverty is increasing. Unemployment and under-employment are high. Real incomes are declining. One of the major challenges for rural Australia is low education attainment... (National Economics 1998: 14).

Michael Taylor:

Governments and big corporations have taken the decision to pull out of rural Australia and as a result many of the people have gone too (Cribb 1994: 13).

Barbara Geno:

An exploration of the literature of the last forty years reveals the recurring theme of town decline and rural poverty. Town decline has been evident in Australia since the last century (Geno 1997: 8).

As Olfert and Weinand:

... most inland rural communities in New South Wales have historically depended on primary agriculture, forestry and mining for their economic bases. Retail trade and services developed around transport and distribution centres to serve the primary sectors. Where the primary sectors have been characterised by sparse settlement and labour-saving technological changes, inland communities have experienced decline in function, and sometimes in population as well (Olfert and Weinand 1997: 6).

The Productivity Commission:

Differences in the concentration and nature of economic activity across Australia affect the way structural change impacts on people living in different regions. One reason for this is that smaller and more remote regional towns are often relatively specialised - with activity centred on a handful of core industries - while metropolitan and strongly service-based non-metropolitan regions generally have more diversified industry bases. Hence, the closure of a major business in a small regional centre is likely to have a larger impact on the surrounding community than would the closure of a similar operation in a capital city (Productivity Commission 1999: 21).

Salant and Marx:

Against this background, small, remote communities - often fall behind. Because of the size and density of such places, it is expensive to provide the transportation and communications infrastructure that firms need to get supplies in and products out fast enough to compete in today's economy. It is also difficult for firms to access new information and innovations (Salant and Marx 1995: 34).

Publications by the Author (most are available electronically on request)

PhD Thesis

A Question of Balance? The Fate of Balanced Development as a Regional Policy Objective in New South Wales, University of New England, March 2002

Journal Articles, Book Chapters

1. "Business Costs in Non-Metropolitan Regions: Research Findings and Policy Issues", Regional Policy and Practice, Volume 4 No 1, May 1995
2. "From 'Balanced Development' to 'Sustainable Development': Recent Regional Policy Approaches in New South Wales", in R Epps (ed) Sustaining Rural Systems in the Context of Global Change, Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the IGU Commission for the Sustainability of Rural Systems and Land Use/ Cover Change Study Group, University of New England, July 1997
3. "Big Town, Small Town - the Centralisation of Services and Economic Activity, the Decline of Small Towns and the Policy Response in New South Wales", Regional Policy and Practice, Volume 6, No 2, December 1997 (co-authored with Bridget Gastin)
4. "Up-skilling Local and Regional Leaders and Economic Development Practitioners: A Survey of Current Issues and Possible Future Directions", Regional Policy and Practice, Volume 8 No1, May 1999
5. "Small Town Decline and Survival in New South Wales: Trends, Causes and Policy Issues", in M F Rogers, Y M J Collins (eds) The Future of Australia's Country Towns, Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities, La Trobe University, March 2001
6. "What's Wrong with Enterprise Zones?" Sustaining Regions Volume 2 No 1, (September 2002)
7. "Policies for the Future of Regional Australia", European Planning Studies, forthcoming (2003)

Conference Papers

1. Balanced State Development in New South Wales Regional Policy Making: Past Glories and Future Prospects, Paper presented to the 19th Annual ANZRSA Conference at the University of Queensland, December 1995
2. Service Delivery in Country Regions: Trends, Policy Issues and Government Responses in New South Wales, Paper presented to the 20th Annual ANZRSA Conference at the Australian National University, September 1996
3.  Small Towns - the Big Picture, the Role of the NSW Government, Paper presented at the CARED Innovations in Economic Development Roundtable, September 1997
4. Community Economic Development in New South Wales - History, Theory and Practice, Paper presented at the Conference of the Regional Science Association International, Wellington, New Zealand, December 1997
5. Hilmer, Hanson and Regional Development: The Impact of Competition Policy on Regional Australia and the Political Response, Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Tanunda, South Australia, September 1998
6. Regional Development Issues, Policies and Programs: The NSW Government's Approach, Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Tanunda, South Australia, September 1998
7. Should Governments Try to "Save" Small Towns? Paper presented at the 23^rd Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Newcastle, September 1999
8. Small Town Decline and Survival: Trends, Success Factors and Policy Issues, Paper presented to the Future of Australia's Country Towns Conference, Bendigo, June 2000
9. Achieving Genuine Statewide Development: A Department of State and Regional Development Perspective, Address given to the State Assembly of Local Government, Sydney, 24 July 2000
10. What Makes for Successful Small Towns? An Examination of the Impact of Active Local Economic Development in New South Wales, Paper presented at the 24^th Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Hobart, December 2000
11. Australian Regional Policy and its Critics, Paper presented at the 26^th Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Surfers Paradise, October 2002 (This paper was also presented at the Australian Population Association Conference in Sydney in October 2002)
12. Are Australian Country Towns Gay Enough? Paper presented at the 26^th Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Surfers Paradise, October 2002
13. Australian Regional Policy, Paper presented at the Australian Population Association Conference, University of New South Wales, October 2002
14. The Challenge of Regional Policy, Presentation at the Regional Population Summit, Albury, November 2002
15. The Challenges of Regional Policy, Paper presented at the 6^th Annual Urban Planning conference, Sydney July 2003
16. What Drives Regional Development Success? The Cases of Wales and New South Wales, paper presented at the Regional Science Association International, British and Irish Section, St Andrew, August 2003 (co-authored with Stephen Hill)
17. Regional Governance in Australia and Europe, Paper presented at the 27^th Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Fremantle, September 2003 (forthcoming)
18. The Tyranny of the "Announcable", Paper presented at the 27^th Annual Conference of the ANZRSAI, Fremantle, September 2003 (forthcoming)

Details of references used in this paper may also be obtained from the author.

Key Sources include the following:
J R Bray: Social Indicators for Regional Australia (Dept of Family and Community Services; available on the FACS site))
B Salt: The Big Shift
D Brooks: Bobos in Paradise
D Henton: Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy
R Florida: The Rise of the Creative Class
J Kotkin: The New Geography
C Cocklin, M Alston: Community Sustainability in Rural Australia
Welsh Development Agency: Competing With the World
Web sites - Collaborative Economics, The Center for the New West, Center for the Study of Rural America, NSW Community Builders, Regional Business Development Analysis, Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics

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