| | Regionalisation - a roadmap to COVID recovery
Liz Ritchie
CEO, Regional Australia Institute (RAI)
| | | There’s no doubt that COVID-19 restrictions have had a massive impact on Australia socially and economically. Severe on the national scale, the impact has been dramatically different across our country. Some regions have fallen into a very deep hole, while others have barely been affected.
Regional Australia is not a homogenous place, and the impact of COVID 19 certainly cements this notion.
To understand how varied the impact has been, the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) continues to analyse many significant indicators. Today, I am delighted to participate in a national live stream event hosted by CEDA, where I will join NAB Group Chief Economist, Alan Oster, to discuss the impact of COVID-19; the impact on regions and the roadmap for recovery.
A good litmus for how regions are tracking is the number of businesses that have registered for JobKeeper. Nationally, around one-third of businesses are using JobKeeper. But this varies enormously across the country. In some of our inland agricultural and mining communities, this rate is less than 10 per cent, while in our hospitality and tourism hot spots, it can be well over 60 per cent.
Unemployment is another litmus, and it too varies enormously. Regions like Mandurah and Coffs Harbour have seen already high unemployment rates more than double to 15 and 16 per cent in the last six months. In contrast, other regions like Murray in NSW and Southwest Victoria have seen unemployment rates stable or falling.
Regions will undoubtedly play a key role in riding this recession out. When we look at Job Vacancy Growth Rates, we see that that the vast majority of regions are still better than most cities. So there is good news around, and signs of employment growth in some regions.
On the flipside are the places where things are really tough. Perhaps the most challenging are those in areas affected by bushfire and/or highly reliant on tourism. These places need dedicated, medium-term assistance which is designed with their community leaders to fit with needs and capabilities.
While COVID-19 has created great challenges for us as a nation, there is a silver lining for Regional Australia. At the RAI, we believe it has created an historic moment for the regionalisation of our national workforce.
As a country, we have discovered that we can now we can live where we love, rather than having to live where we work. This opens the door to a pathway forward for a more balanced population settlement. This situation finally creates the kind of level playing field that the RAI has been discussing since our inception.
Our job vacancy figures continue to show us that regions need more people. People bring innovation, entrepreneurialism, community participation, volunteerism; people bring prosperity, and they bring life!
Last week, we held a webinar with regional stakeholders across the country, who are interested in joining our Regional Activators Alliance. This group will be instrumental in helping us shine the light on the opportunities of living, working and investing in Regional Australia through the delivery of our National Awareness Campaign. We are in the process of finalising the establishment of this group, and ask anyone interested to contact Shane Charles for more information via shane.charles@regionalaustralia.org.au
And finally, it’s an understatement to say 2020 has not gone to plan for many of us. Unfortunately, this means we need to postpone the 2020 Regions Rising National Summit set down for October, and move it to 17-18 March 2021 to help minimise the risk for our communities.
We will continue to deliver Regions Rising webinars each month, culminating in a virtual summit in November 2020. Keep your eyes peeled on our socials and newsletters for more information in the coming weeks!
Our next webinar, A Healthy Approach to Economic Recovery, is next Monday 31 August. RAI Chief Economist Dr Kim Houghton will lead discussions around the current state of the Health sector in regional Australia, and the role it plays in assisting regions through economic recovery post-COVID-19. Dr Houghton will be joined by Gabrielle O’Kane, CEO NRHA; Catherine Maloney, CEO SARRAH; and Lyndon Seys, CEO Alpine Health. Register here, or watch it live on YouTube, and join the LinkedIn event to connect with other virtual attendees.
Until next time, stay safe and stay connected!
Liz Ritchie
CEO, Regional Australia Institute (RAI) | | |
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