The Regional Institute Australia (RIA) has challenged governments to attract an extra half a million people to regional Australia, including to the Hunter, by 2032.
The Regionalisation Ambition 2032 report is a culmination of eleven years of research and will be launched at RIA’s National Summit in Canberra today.
RIA is calling for 500,000 people to be attracted to regional areas including the Hunter Valley, but is also warning jobs, communities and industries will be permanently affected by the phase-out of coal-dependant industries in the Hunter.
RAI CEO Liz Ritchie said the report was a national first and places 20 key targets at the centre of strengthening our regions which will close the divide between life in the city and the country.
“It focusses on regional housing, education, health, jobs and skills, digital inclusion, transport, childcare, community participation, migration, climate, innovation and the resilience of regional communities – as well as population.
“We’ve seen more than a 100 percent jump in job vacancies in the last 2.5 years. More than 3.7 million regional Australians live in a ‘childcare desert’. Regional home building approvals have declined in five out of the last 10 years. Remote students do half as well as their metropolitan counterparts in NAPLAN.
“These issues are all interlinked, complex and equally as important, so the development of a holistic and integrated framework is a momentous step forward to achieving better outcomes for all,” Liz Ritchie said.
“We know that you can’t solve the jobs crisis without addressing housing. We know you can’t solve the skills deficit, without improving education standards. Healthcare can’t be improved without focussing on digital connectivity.
“But achieving the targets we have set for 2032 is a challenge not just for the RAI, or even government. For regionalisation to be truly realised, it needs to be a collective effort, a national effort to rebalance the nation – and all Australians have a part to play,” she said.