Change. For some, change is exciting. It unsettles, and that sense of nervous anticipation for what’s ahead can serve as an incredible motivator. For others it’s hard. Why rock the boat, when the status quo is perfectly fine? Change often means you won’t understand it all. You want the answers, but sometimes they’re not yet visible.
All the above iterations of change captures where regional Australia is, at this moment in time. There is so much change happening outside the boundaries of our nation’s biggest cities right now. The regions are growing at a rate not seen for decades, with the number of regional Australians just shy of 10 million people or almost 40% of the national population. That growth, which has been underway for well over 10 years and continues, has led to a maturation of regional economies, and both the businesses and people who live in our regions are now incredibly diverse. Regional Australia will also play the pivotal role in our nation’s transition to net zero and increasing the production of low-carbon energy across Australia will result in not only a huge amount of investment in regional areas, but the development of a highly skilled workforce to service and support this burgeoning new industry. The regional Australia of 20 years ago, is not the regional Australia of today, and the regional Australia of tomorrow is set to be the powerhouse of our nation’s economy.
The change that has happened, is happening, and will happen across the regions brings with it both immense opportunities and complex challenges. The growth that we’ve seen across regional Australia was not forecast and now there are a great many hurdles we need to clear to enable a more prosperous and equitable Australia to develop. An Australia where there is a more balanced spread of population amongst metropolitan and regional areas. Housing remains one of the biggest hurdles many regional communities need to overcome. But likewise, data shows there are not enough childcare services in our regional communities, that our regional kids still lag their capital city counterparts when it comes to NAPLAN testing, and that regional recruitment difficulty remains high.
It's why in 2022, the RAI helped create a plan ambitiously calling for a conscious shift in how we are investing in our country’s future. The Regionalisation Ambition 2032, a 10-year, 20-goal framework co-designed by government, industry and thousands of regional champions, documents the collective effort and action needed to “Rebalance the Nation”. Through this Ambition, the RAI is looking to elevate the regional opportunities that will unlock a more prosperous Australia – highlighting the investment and change required in the regions to achieve greater outcomes and equity.
However, whilst the RAI was the architect of this plan, we alone cannot execute it. It will take a collaborative effort from government, business, industry and community. It will also require leadership, connection and thinkers who look at issues both from a granular and big picture perspective. This varied network of people will come together in August at the RAI’s Regions Rising National Summit: The New Frontier, to collaborate, prepare and support each other as we take steps towards creating a legacy not only for regional Australia, but the nation.
And as a nation, we are not alone in our journey to a more decentralised future. Since 2009, the Century Initiative has been leading a conversation about increasing Canada’s population to 100 million people by 2100. Like Australia, Canada finds itself at a crossroads and is calling for evidence-backed planning now to enable it to prosper into the future. CEO Lisa Lalande, who will join us at the National Summit, readily admits it’s a plan that will never have unanimous support. But what this project is doing is setting a critical narrative at a national level about Canada’s future.
Earlier this month, Century Initiative released its fourth annual National Scorecard. Like the RAI, it’s keeping tabs on its goals, for what’s the point in setting a bold plan if you’re not going to commit to implementing it? Whilst it is making gains on a number of its 40 targets, more work is still needed in several critical areas – like housing affordability, household debt, and productivity. And this is where the change is hard, because the answers to those issues aren’t simple, and change is hard when the path forward needs to be carved out in a bespoke, unprecedented way, where varied opinions need to be heard and considered.
To make change, you need power. Whilst political power is certainly a factor, the engines needed to drive forward momentum on the targets our two organisations have set are everywhere. They are the members of a board of a multi-billion dollar company agreeing to build permanent housing in a regional community where they are undertaking a major infrastructure project. They are the regional entrepreneurs establishing new businesses in buildings in main streets that may have previously sat unoccupied. They are the executives allowing their workforces to live where they choose whether it be Bondi, Ballarat or Barcaldine. They are the organisations working with highly skilled migrants to ensure their qualifications are recognised locally, so they can fill critical vacancies across the country.
The National Summit is about bringing those engines to the same place, at the same time, to discuss the same issues. With so much power in the room together, we have a unique and incredibly important opportunity to drive change. Will it excite? Yes. Will it be daunting? Yes. Will we have all the answers? No, but if we work towards starting up regional Australia now, it’ll never stop delivering.
Liz Ritchie, RAI CEO.