RAI: regional economic challenges not a side issue

Speaking after the new review was announced today, Mr Archer said for a long time, regional people had been told that as long as the cities grew well, the whole economy would be fine.

He said right now Sydney and Melbourne are “firing” but the economy as a whole was at risk of recession.

“Clearly the rest of the economy is still very important to our economic future,” he said.

“There is also the very real fact that 8.8 million Australians feel left out of the vision for the future of Australia because they are not in the cities.

“We need to bring them back into the narrative and help them see opportunities and take some control of their future.”

Mr Archer said the RAI could also save the PC “a fair bit of time on this one” with work it has already conducted.

“We have been working on these issues for a number of years and recently will be providing some substantial input of evidence and new ideas to assist with the Regional Development Minister Fiona Nash, to inform the regional policy she is developing for release in 2017,” he said.

“The government’s new policies on City Deals and Regional Jobs and Investment Packages are some steps already taken in the right direction.

“Inevitably people will try to brand any work on this issue as pork barrelling but the evidence we have shows that there are enormous opportunities to increase the economic performance of regions while also better spending the investments government already make in social programs and infrastructure to get better outcomes for people in the bush.

“We look forward to working with the government to make hamburgers out of some sacred policy cows and develop some new regional policy approaches that can deliver for regional people and the country as a whole.”

But Shadow Regional Services Minister Stephen Jones accused Senator Nash of “dithering” and urged the minister to “get on with the job of driving economic growth in regions in crisis”.

“Regional Australia doesn’t need to wait for another study to tell Turnbull government Ministers that regional economies are bearing the brunt of Australia’s faltering economy,” he said.

“It would be far more productive for the Treasurer to get on the phone to his cabinet colleague Senator Nash and asking her to stop dithering and get on with delivering the program that the government already has announced for this very same purpose.

“We don’t need the Productivity Commission to tell us the regions that are doing it tough - and those regions are not just confined to areas dealing with the end of the mining and resources boom.

“It’s time for action, not more studies.”