Have Your Say

TRANSCRIPT: REGIONAL AUSTRALIA COUNCIL 2031 LAUNCH, 4 May 2020

5 May 2020

E&OE

Subjects: Regional Australia Council 2031 Initiative;

LIZ RITCHIE

To start, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Michael McCormack. I love introducing Michael, as he has lived and worked in the Riverina all of his life.  So we know very well that regional is in Michael’s blood.  He’s had a stellar career as a journalist and editor, founder of a media and publishing business before he was elected to The Nationals in 2010 as the Member for the Riverina, later becoming leader for The Nationals in 2018 where we’re now really honoured to work with Michael and his team.  So, Michael, thank you for joining us and over to you.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK

Thank you very much, Liz.  I really appreciate that too kind of an introduction and I do thank Kim and indeed everybody on the call.  Every one of you in your own right, in your own way, is a leader, is an advocate for not only change but certainly for regional Australia.  And we all know that when the regions are strong, so too is our nation and it is so important not just because we’re striving and working towards getting through this pandemic COVID-19 but also because we’re on the back-end, of course, the summer from hell with the bushfires, with the drought that continues, I have to say, to have a far-reaching effect on our regional communities.  And just because we’ve had decent showers of rain, just because our farmers are busy now working their paddocks to ensure that they get a crop in – some for the first time for, if not three, in some cases seven years – just because of all that and the psychology is somewhat changing because there has been some decent rain, we’re still not very much out of the woods.  We’re still affected by the drought and its prolonged impacts upon our communities.  We’re still affected as the relief and recovery efforts occur after the bushfire season and of course, the pandemic has largely shut not just regional Australia but indeed, the nation down. 

Now of course, as a Federal Government we’ve worked through each and every one of those.  We’ve put $8 billion on the table for the drought.  We established the National Bushfire Recovery Agency and put an initial down payment of more than $2 billion there.  And I know even during this pandemic upwards of $320 billion, including, I suppose, the centrepiece signature economic benefit and economic assistance and that was the JobKeeper payments, to ensure that as many businesses with those employees and casuals of 12 months or more on their books would receive that $1,500 payment per fortnight to help them through this crisis.  And it has been a crisis. 

Regional Australia has been seen at its best through this virus crisis.  Certainly, agriculture has continued as best it could and I know that so has infrastructure and construction.  So has the resources sector.  And we’re very fortunate that regional Australia has been able to lead the way and despite the fact that, of course, our frontline health professionals have been the real heroes of this downturn – of this crisis.  I have to say our truckies have also played a magnificent role and those truckies, mainly from regional areas I have to say, driving over to Canberra last night and each and every Sunday night as I have for important sittings of not necessarily the Parliament, where we haven’t sat much lately, but indeed having important telepresences such as this with key players in infrastructure, transport and regional development, like this one today. 

To see the number of trucks on the road and not many cars because people have been staying home and doing the right thing. Those truck drivers have been absolutely magnificent transporting the goods around to our supermarkets, but perhaps even more importantly, personal protection equipment, face masks and perhaps even most critically, medicine. 

Look, I commend the Regional Australia Institute for this initiative.  Working towards 2031, setting up a council to do just that is really important.  Liz, Kim and the team have been real advocates for a better future and I think that’s in all of our interests to have a better future; to have some blue sky vision but to also work on the successes and take pride in what we’ve achieved in the past.  And yes, the Regional Australia Institute is eight years old. 

I heard Liz say that they need some branding boosts and yes, that may be true.  We always, whatever organisation we are in, we’d like to get our branding out there even more so.  But wherever I go and to whomever I talk to in regional Australia I know that they’re aware of the work that the institute does.  They’re moreover, aware of the benefits that it brings to their communities, and I think that’s so important. 

Regional Australia does face a number of challenges but it also has a great future.  I get very excited by the future that regional Australia has through such things as the Inland Rail, making sure that we can get product to port within 24 hours.  I get very excited by the fact that we’ve made a number of investments in a number of regional airports and yes, they’re doing it very hard at the moment.  The aviation industry has been knocked for six by the COVID-19 crisis.  But regional airports, when you put in an investment of $2 million, just $2 million, into an Instrument Landing System at a place like Mildura and all of a sudden they get inquiries from six pilot training centres that want to establish in a regional community such as that.  Regional aviation has got so much potential. 

And you look around and you see our farmers now of course, as I said before, working their paddocks.  They’re the greatest risk-takers in our nation and we need to back them.  Of course the NFF, the Federal Government and so many others, have that vision to put the agriculture sector to $100 billion by 2030 from its $60 billion position now. So that’s exciting. There are so many people wanting to talk up regional Australia and so they should. 

I’ve said so often in Parliament that regional Australia ain’t broke and it’s not, it’s best years are ahead of it and that’s because of organisations such as the Regional Australia Institute.  That’s because of people like Liz and Kim and each and every one of you are on this telepresence today because you want to drive a better future.  I’ve always said about regional Australia, it’s big enough in which to get a good cup of coffee, it’s also small enough to care.  You have those communities where you can pull up and, yes, you can get whatever coffee you want, whatever exotic brand you feel like, whatever takes your fancy.  But when things go wrong, when things are tough, you see those regional communities banding together like the close-knit family groups and networks that they are.  And they really, really make sure that they’ve got that liveability in their areas. 

They are welcoming.  They are embracing.  I’m excited by some of the things that we’re doing as far as making decentralisation a continued presence in our Parliament, but a continued voice through Andrew Gee and his work making sure that he continues to advocate not just for the public servants to perhaps look beyond Canberra and to beyond the metropolitan areas, but indeed for all private organisations to do that as well.  And, as I drive around the country – as I once drove around the country and flew around the country, I haven’t been able to do that much lately – but certainly through Local Government, through Mark Coulton and what he’s doing as the Minister for Local Government, I know that Local Governments want to work with the Institute and work with Federal and State Governments of any political persuasion to build a better regional Australia future and that’s what we all want. 

So again, I commend the council.  I think there’s a bit of Q&A too.  You know, getting out there and promoting regional Australia is a place where there isn’t congestion; regional Australia where there is the ability to have a backyard, noting that there was a report in early January that one of the biggest concerns of people who live in built-up areas these days is that they don’t have a backyard as such, they only have a communal park.  Well, you can buy a place in regional Australia, in one of the capitals or indeed, a smaller town and have a backyard and be 10 minutes from work and only really an hour on a flight from a city capital. 

But, indeed, if there’s one thing that the COVID-19 downturn has taught us is that we are able to actually communicate via these telepresences and via these visual media platforms, which I think Liz has brought us a lot closer together.  And there’s really no excuse not to be able to have a teleconference like this on a regular basis because whilst we’re going to take a bit of a while to resume life as normal, we do have those telecommunications abilities now to connect and I think we’ve been able to connect on a basis that we probably wouldn’t have thought possible or doable 12 months ago. 

So if there’s one upside to this, it has, in one sense, brought people a little bit closer together via the visual platforms that we’re now on.  So, look, I commend the initiative.  I think it’s got some exciting elements and I think as we go through and we develop it even further, I think we can make this a real winner for regional Australia so that people can confidently work, live and invest and look towards regional Australia as a place to do business in the future. 

So, congratulations and with that, I launch the Regional Australia Institute Council and its 2031 initiative.  I look forward to working closely with you, Kim and Liz and the rest of the team.  The council members, I congratulate you for your initiative in your endeavour for taking part in this and wish it all the very best in the future.  Thank you.

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