Regional Cooperation and Development Forum
Plenary address: Empowering regions works
The Hon Simon Crean MP, Shadow Minister for Regional Development
4:45pm, 7 November 2005, Canberra
See also: 2005 Regional Cooperation and Development Forum
Introduction
Thank you for the opportunity to address this national forum on Labor's regional development priorities. This is an important forum. Each year for the past nine years this forum has put regional development 'front and centre' in the national policy debate. There are many big issues on the national agenda right now, but none is more important than building and sustaining a future for Australia's regions.
My commitment
I'm pleased to be with you today because I know that by working together we can make a difference. Throughout my working life I've been committed to bringing people together to achieve agreed outcomes.
- As President of the ACTU I worked with the Hawke Labor Government though the Accord to make the nation more competitive and productive.
- As Minister for Science and Technology I established Cooperative Research Centres to drive innovation and its commercialisation.
- As Minister for Primary Industries I forged a working relationship with primary producers to value-add their resource, and state governments to sustain their resource base (for example, through the National Drought Policy).
- As Minister for Employment, Education and Training I devolved responsibility to the regions through Area Consultative Committees.
I bring that same commitment to my current role as Shadow Minister for Regional Development.
Federal Labor's record
Federal Labor has long had an approach to Australia's regions that sets us apart from our political opponents. In 1973 the Whitlam Government established Australia's first Commonwealth Department of Urban and Regional Development. Whitlam made urban renewal his government's business, and created new statutory bodies to drive regional development. In my view no area of policy reform in the Whitlam era was more important than the Commonwealth's embrace of regional development responsibilities. The legacy of that approach is Labor's continuing commitment to build a sustainable future for our regions.
As Minister for Employment, Education and Training I was the architect of the Working Nation manifesto. Reading the 2005 State of the Regions Report I was struck by the observation that "the innovation/knowledge capacity of an economy is determined at the regional level." It mirrors this commitment in Working Nation:
The regions of Australia are partners in the nation's growth . . . [and are] crucial to meeting Australia's economic and social objectives. . .The government will support Australia's regions. . .and assist them with the problems many of them face.
The current government doesn't understand the critical role regions play in our national economy. In contrast, the moment this government won office it declared "there is no clear rationale or constitutional basis for Commonwealth involvement." For Labor, a genuine commitment to regional development is not just good policy. It's good politics. Labor must win sixteen seats to return to government. We won't win unless we win regional seats. Between now and the next election it's up to Labor to convince regional Australians that we deserve their trust and their vote.
When I addressed the 2002 National General Assembly of Local Government in Alice Springs I said that governments don't have the answers, but they can make a difference. I also said that there was no prospect of closing the gap between the regions unless Australia's governments worked together. My view has not altered over the past three years. And the challenge remains.
Some of you will recall that I served as the Shadow Minister for Regional Development in the period 1996 to 1998 - Labor's first term in Opposition. I have returned to the portfolio and am determined to create a bit of symmetry by serving in this shadow portfolio in our last term of Opposition.
Labor's approach
Labor believes that the Commonwealth has a critical role to play in regional development. Not in isolation, but in partnership with communities. I know that when government empowers communities it get results. The Area Consultative Committees I established were tasked - and resourced - to deliver Working Nation initiatives. And they did the job.
The objective was a better match between labour supply and demand, enabling communities to undertake skills audits that ensured training programs matched local industry needs. As a result, more than 300,000 jobs were created in the last six months of Labor's term in office. It shows that if you empower local stakeholders and resource them you get results. Skills deficits are still holding regions back. We must reinstate local responses to address local skill shortages. And ask ourselves the logical question - if it works for skills, why won't it work in other policy areas? To give regions a fair go we must adopt that approach in regional policy. Adopt an approach that is not program driven, but location responsive.
Countless studies demonstrate that a top down 'one size fits all' approach doesn't work. Regional policy works best when it is location responsive, and that's the policy approach Labor will adopt in government.
International experience
Australia is not the only place in the world where a dispersed population presents complex policy challenges. The European Union's approach to regional development is, I think, instructive. The EU has sought to better integrate local and community priorities with national and regional development programs. The approach is founded on an understanding that greater local ownership of policy and programs is critical. In preparation for enlargement, the EU has adopted three key regional development principles:
- improved program accessibility
- growth in the knowledge economy through investment in human capital and support for innovation, skills and research
- job creation and the promotion of entrepreneurship
I think those principles are a sound starting point for discussion about our own regional development priorities.
Australia's challenge
The 2005 State of the Regions report shows that:
- our regions are diverse
- our large cities are more integrated in the knowledge economy than ever before
- but the gap between these cities and the rest of Australia is widening.
Our challenge is to narrow that gap. This year's report is a sobering wake up call for national policy makers. It drives the message home that Australia's regions need quality telecommunications infrastructure to play a part in the modern knowledge economy. In essence, those regions that have broadband access are doing well. Those that don't - aren't. And lest anyone think this is a matter that concerns regional Australians only, the report makes this critical observation:
Quality telecommunications infrastructure is a key driver of economic growth in our regions and, in turn, a key driver of national economic performance.
The report draws an analogy between the provision of rail infrastructure in the 19th century and the provision of telecommunications infrastructure in our own, and contends:
Governments exercised strong leadership in ensuring that transport infrastructure was in place to develop Australia's regions. The same quality should now apply to telecommunications.
I think a further analogy can be drawn. That is, a high speed internet connection today is as essential as a 'plain old telephone service' in years gone by. The State of the Regions report finds that there has been an abject failure in leadership by the Howard Government. That's not surprising, because for nine years, the only telecommunications policy objective the government has had is privatising Telstra.
Building a modern telecommunications network and access regime should have been a central policy goal of government over the past decade. It's time the government developed a national telecommunications plan that recognises that broadband access is a key to future prosperity in Australia's regions.
The State of the Regions report shows that vastly improved access is not only necessary, it is feasible and affordable. The report puts the cost at about $3 billion. Others suggest it can be done for less. It is time the national government tackled this challenge. Out of the sale of Telstra proceeds the Howard Government has funded a trust fund and program fund but has no strategy to connect the regions.
Seven years ago Labor proposed to set aside a proportion of Telstra dividends for dedicated investment in social and physical infrastructure. If that policy had been adopted, the accumulated fund would now be valued at over $5 billion. You know Labor remains opposed to the sale of Telstra. We believe the retention of Telstra in majority public ownership provides the best opportunity to upgrade telecommunications in regional Australia and the funds with which to achieve that goal - in perpetuity.
The Howard Government has allocated just $1 billion in program money and the interest from a trust fund that will total $100 million per annum on an ongoing basis. The government has a program called Connect Australia but no plan. The challenge to local government leaders - whatever your view of the sale of Telstra - is to insist on the necessary investment to close the connectivity gap. If you don't, your regions will be left behind.
Role of local government
Local government is a key driver of regional development in this country. In the absence of leadership by the Howard Government, local government has had to carry an extra load in recent years. Local government is not just a driver of regional development, it is a catalyst. This sphere of government must continue to play that role, drawing on the committment and expertise of local business and community stakeholders.
That's the lesson I've learned over the past few months as I've travelled around the country meeting with local government and regional development bodies. I have been impressed and encouraged by the diversity, the innovation, the enthusiasm and the activity in the regions. Of course, regional needs and responses are different.
That's the key message of some important work done by the Victorian Department of Communities that contends local character is critical to the design and implementation of funding programs. That message about a location responsive approach is not always well understood by government. But it's a message government must understand if we are serious about unleashing the potential of our regions. It's a message the local government sphere must understand as well.
I'd like to highlight three examples of activity that demonstrate some of the good work this sphere of government has done in response to local needs.
First, the Cradle Coast Authority which was created to co-ordinate and drive regional economic development across nine local government areas in north west Tasmania. The Cradle Coast Authority has agreements with the Commonwealth and Tasmanian Governments and is engaged in a range of activities focused on the identified needs of its region.
Second, G21 in Geelong is a great example of collaboration between local government authorities, the Geelong Area Consultative Committee, and the Victorian Government. It has a broad vision for the region which it is advancing by building relationships and harnessing resources across three levels of government.
Third, the City of Ballarat's new agri-business centre will bring together complementary agri-business activities on a greenfield site that will build on the region's traditional food processing strengths while arresting the economic decline of the rural community in which it is located. The council is looking to incorporate in the facility an education and training facility that will lift the region's skills base and help to staunch the flow of people who leave the local community in search of work and training opportunities.
These three projects are all 'location driven'. We can learn from them not by seeking to replicate them but by understanding how they respond to local circumstances and needs. They are an example to policy makers - particularly those slow on the uptake - that 'one size does not fit all' in regional policy.
Together with my colleagues I look forward to learning more about other projects as I travel around the country meeting, listening, and learning from the real experts - local government, community and business leaders that are forging outcomes for their communities. Labor is acutely aware that local government has a greater capacity to contribute to regional development outcomes.
One of the constraints is, of course, revenue. I know that local government advocates a change to its funding formula. This is not an area for which I exercise responsibility, but let me offer you a word of advice. Don't focus on the formula, focus on the outcome. Focus on what is needed and tell us why the current arrangements don't work.
Look beyond your own local government area, identify the problem, propose a solution, harness support, and seek a coordinated government response. Don't narrow the definition of infrastructure to road, rail and ports. There are many other forms of infrastructure that Australia's regions need to get ahead, including telecommunications, water, energy, education and medical infrastructure. Don't narrow your vision to government sources of revenue, either. There is a role for the private sector and the superannuation funds in economic and social infrastructure. You must make a case for change, otherwise you will fail to bring that change about.
Lost opportunities
It's a case for change that Labor will be making over in the lead up the next election. A case founded on the argument that the Howard years have been lost years for Australia's regions. A reading of the Senate inquiry into regional rorts makes that case absolutely. Labor supports regional program funding, but we don't support wasted opportunities. I mean, how could anyone serious about regional development support $5 million for a steam train that ran out of steam, or $1.6 million to dredge a creek that dredged itself? The Howard Government's policy approach has failed.
A few weeks ago even Warren Truss himself conceded that the government's regional development programs weren't achieving the sustainable outcomes Australia's regions need. He talked about the need for sustainable outcomes, but he is yet to take any action. In regional development, the problem is not resources, it's resolve.
We can't recover funds from the Howard Government's wasteful ventures, but we can commit to do better. We can allocate available resources in a transparent and coordinated way and achieve sustainable outcomes.
Labor's priorities
Labor has three key regional development priorities:
- Restoring Commonwealth leadership
- Developing regional skills and infrastructure
- Empowering communities
These priorities are co-dependent and we are committed to working with other spheres of government to achieve them. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. I look forward to working with you in the future.
The Hon Simon Crean MP, Shadow Minister for Regional Development
7 November 2005, Canberra
