Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation, I present the committee's interim report.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I rise to speak on the interim report of the Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation.

We have had some changes in the committee in recent months, and, as nominal chair, I would like to thank the author of this report, the member for Groom, Dr John McVeigh, for his work in chairing the committee to date. I have served as his deputy.

I also thank the other committee members and the committee secretariat and support staff for their work. I note that we are looking forward to announcements about replacements for the four government members that have moved on from our committee.

By the nature of the task at hand, the committee has visited many regional and rural areas throughout Australia.

I acknowledge the many individuals and organisations who have made submissions and appeared at hearings during the course of our inquiry so far.

The purpose of this interim report is to provide an update on the work to date and an overview of the work ahead.

At this stage, the committee considers it would be premature to provide recommendations or views on the issues raised.

To date, the committee has received over 187 written submissions and heard from 115 witnesses representing 77 organisations.

More than a quarter of these submissions, 27 per cent, have been from local councils or groupings of councils, with other contributions from individuals, industry bodies, regional development authorities, community groups and non-government organisations.

A third have come from Victoria, a quarter from New South Wales, and 11 per cent each from Queensland and the ACT.

Nearly one in 10 have come from committees belonging to Regional Development Australia, an organisation and network working to identify regional issues, and their contributions are expected to identify themes across the regions.

Between August and November, hearings were held in Canberra; in the New South Wales cities of Orange and Newcastle (neighbouring my electorate of Paterson); in the Victorian cities of Bendigo and Wodonga; in the West Australian cities of Geraldton and Kalgoorlie; in the South Australian city of Murray Bridge; in the Tasmanian cities of Launceston and Burnie; and in Darwin, in the Northern Territory.

The committee has also held private briefings with the department of infrastructure and regional development and the Australian Public Service Commission.

An informal panel was convened to uncover the broad issues related to regional development and decentralisation, and we will likely hold another similar roundtable this year.

The committee intends to hold hearings in the coming months in Townsville, Toowoomba, Armidale and Canberra.

We've requested an extension to the May date for the final report given the quantity of evidence received. The goal will then be to craft recommendations for best-practice approaches to regional development so these can meaningfully inform government policy.

Research by the Regional Australia Institute says the main factors affecting regional communities and economies are: the global economy; technological change; the environment; and, importantly, population.

While governments can't control these things per se, they can provide the right political and policy settings to foster growth.

What we know is that integrated and collaborative approaches from all tiers of government are vital.

The Productivity Commission advises regional growth should be: led by local communities; aligned with regional strengths; supported by targeted investment; and guided by clear objectives and measurable performance indicators.

What is common to best-practice guidelines here and overseas is that regions must focus on their core advantages.

They must have buy-in growth strategies and support from government at all levels.

Regional growth can occur through the decentralisation of Commonwealth agencies and/or through incentivising corporations to decentralise, but it must be done carefully.

It is broadly agreed that technology is key, and that with good policy the benefits can outweigh the costs, but again it must be done with careful consideration.

In closing, I want to say what an honour it was to chair the Newcastle hearing of the committee, neighbouring my own electorate of Paterson in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, and hear from our local councils and organisations.

The Hunter—and I note the member for Hunter and shadow agriculture minister joins us in the chamber today—is the biggest regional economy in Australia. We know about regions because we are one of the most successful regions, with an economic output of nearly $100 billion a year and a population of more than 707,000 people.

We have enjoyed the fruits of the mining boom, but we have also been affected by its downturn, and the loss of big employers such as the hydro aluminium smelter in my home town of Kurri Kurri has had a cost.

As with many rural and regional areas, we have challenges finding work for our young people, with youth unemployment around 10 per cent, but as high as 21 per cent in recent years. While the Hunter has its unique challenges, it also has much in common with other regions we have visited.

I look forward to continuing my work with this committee and commend this report to the House.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Paterson for those remarks, and I think it's important that perhaps someone from the government side as well make a presentation on this particular report, considering that the member for Groom has been promoted and will no longer be the chair of this committee.

We commenced the inquiry on 17 July 2017, and I refer to remarks that the member for Groom made at the time:

… the Committee's inquiry is wide ranging and will explore ways to increase the growth and prosperity of regional and rural Australia. While decentralisation of Commonwealth entities has been identified as a potential means to achieve this, the Committee wants to examine, more broadly, how public and private investment can assist in building and sustaining our regional communities.

It has become quite apparent to me through the course of this inquiry that there are no silver bullets. Of course we need private enterprise as well to be investing in these regions, because at the end of the day anything where the government supplies the jobs comes at the cost of other jobs in the economy somewhere, through taxation. So it's very important that we forge these partnerships.

We released an issues paper on 31 August, and that highlighted that we should be seeking to find the best-practice approaches to rural development, decentralisation of Commonwealth entities and corporate decentralisation—once again, that theme of finding more than just a way of moving government departments into the country, even though that is very important.

We called for submissions, and, as the member for Paterson said, 187 have been received. I thank all of those for the effort and time that they've put into those submissions. I particularly thank those that've made themselves available to the 11 inquiry days we've held—10 of those out of Canberra. As, of course, would behove a committee that is looking into decentralisation, we all thought it was very important that we get out of Canberra, that we go and visit the regions and that we talk to these organisations individually.

There are two distinct groups that we've seen large representations from: local government and the RDAs around Australia, which is not particularly surprising. These are both types of organisation that are deeply interested in the goings-on of our regional communities.

The committee has resolved to request an extension. There is a vast amount of material to work our way through, and so we are hoping to produce the final report on 31 May.

In particular, I would like to recognise the fact that the government seems to understand that this is a real opportunity for Australia. The government has directed the ministers to look at all their departments to see what functions it is that they perform that would not necessarily be easy to transport but that could be done not only at least as efficiently but even more efficiently by relocating to country regions. The ministers will all be reporting back to cabinet in due course on those moves. There is a set level of criteria in portfolios, which the minister is assessing.

I would also like to back up the member for Paterson's remarks and thank the former chair, the member for Groom, Dr John McVeigh, for his contribution in putting together this interim report. We will have to go on without him in the future.

I will remark on some of the people that've come before us. I was particularly pleased when we came to Murray Bridge in South Australia—it is not in my electorate but certainly some people from my electorate attended—that we had representations from Professor John Halsey, who is conducting the government's review into regional, remote and rural education, and that we had a representative from Eldercare, who told us about the difficulties presented in providing aged care in smaller rural communities. Both of those industries—education and aged care—are very good demonstrations of decentralisation of industry, so I was very pleased they were both there.

We heard some great contributions from others. Of particular interest was when we went to Orange and had a talk about the long-term benefits of the New South Wales government relocating the department of agriculture to Orange around 20 years ago. All of that has been very interesting. We've much more work to do, I look forward to continuing to work with the member for Paterson. Thank you very much for your indulgence.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to congratulate the committee.

Leave granted.

You will enjoy the contribution. I genuinely do want to congratulate members of the committee on both sides of the House. I have had many long conversations with the member for Paterson, who tells me the committee has worked very much in a bipartisan way. It's been a hardworking committee, with a lot of travel involved. I'm not sure the member for Paterson still likes me, because, when I asked her to do the job of being the deputy chair of what I thought was an important inquiry, not even I realised how much work and travel would be involved.

I remind the House that the committee very much grew out of the controversy over the forced relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale, but thankfully it was broadened to encapsulate regional development more generally. I'm delighted to hear the member say—my goodness! I can't remember your seat for some reason!

Mr Ramsey interjecting—

Grey—thank you. Grey, of course. The member for Grey said it is complex and there are no silver bullets. That is absolutely true.

I note the reference the member for Paterson made to the work of the Regional Australia Institute, where it outlined the key drivers of growth in the regions. But it is also a reminder—and I won't abuse the indulgence of the leave that has been given—that there are no quick fixes. A political campaign—to somehow try to convince regional communities that the world would be their oyster if only a government agency or part of a government agency moved to their local area—can do no harm, but it can do harm to the agency and the agency's work. We don't create jobs in Australia by moving jobs from one place to another. And with respect to Canberra, when you move agencies out of Canberra, then you're impacting on all those regional communities around Canberra who are having somewhat of a renaissance as they become commuter towns, as residents go to and from Canberra on a daily basis.

I hope we as a parliament can move past the spin and the rhetoric about decentralisation. All agree we can embrace it where it can be done without adverse impact on the agency, entity or regulator involved, but also recognise that it's not about moving jobs from one place to another; it's about tapping into the key drivers of economic growth in the regions—and, importantly, promoting leadership. The RRI also told us, in some case studies, that the difference between some successful regions and not-so-successful regions or cities is the strength of community leadership. But if we're going to have stronger regions—and we all want that—we have to have all levels of government working together. We certainly have to work in a bipartisan manner, and I'm very pleased the committee is doing that. I lament the fact that so many have had to leave the committee, but, of course, that's the fault of no-one. I hope the committee, with this extension, can get on with its work and make some substantial policy recommendations.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39, the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for a later hour this day.