Regional Australia – Unlocking Growth & Prosperity

As Australia continues to strengthen its economic base as a knowledge-intensive, services driven economy, the amplifying benefits of people living and working in proximity are likely to remain. These benefits – known as agglomeration economies – are one of the principal drivers of urbanisation both here in Australia and globally.

While the attraction of agglomeration economies has typically been strongest in Australia’s largest cities, there has also been a trend of urban consolidation from smaller towns into larger regional centres.

These larger regional centres play an important role in Australia’s national context, they provide a diverse range of employment opportunities; act as major trade access points; provide important health care, education and government services; and, supply general amenities to a wider rural catchment.

While Australia’s regional-level planning is considered of a high standard, it is fragmented and there is no coherent guidance on how regional and local plans should respond to population and employment changes.

Commonwealth should consider a more rigorous and transparent approach to understanding current growth trends. We also support the Commonwealth taking a more active role facilitating and providing guidance on how these major regional centres should respond to growth and other emerging trends in a way that builds on their inherent characteristics and strengths.

The largest centres such as Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sunshine Coast, Wollongong and Geelong all have larger populations than Australia’s smallest capital city. These large regional centres are also all located close, and are well connected to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and – perhaps unsurprisingly – like these major capital cities, have been among the fastest growing regions in Australia.

Attraction to regional centres has traditionally been driven by job opportunities in the cities themselves, along with access to other services and amenities. Post COVID-19 enhanced quality of life in combination with continued work-from-home patterns and access to CBD jobs will be a powerful drawcard.

Proximity and connectivity to major capital cities will continue to be an important factor in facilitating economic conditions, including through providing access to larger markets and high-quality human capital, and higher quality infrastructure that facilitates economic growth.

Commonwealth should focus on developing policies that support the growth of these fast-growing larger regional centres that are already of capital city size and are proximate and well connected to Australia’s major capitals. These policies should build on the individual strengths and characteristics of these locations.

The big knowledge and tech hubs which once had such a stranglehold on attracting talent seem to be losing their allure. Many places around the country now have bundles of amenities – renovated old buildings, coffee shops and good restaurants, music venues, and not least of all, more affordable homes – that can compete with the biggest cities. In other words, the amenity gap between superstar cities and other places has closed, while the housing-price gap has widened.

(Richard Florida, The New Urban Crises, 2017)

A further boost to regional development to contribute to the reduction in regional disparities and attract the new work-from-home population, requires a coordinated approach which links planning policies and investment with the delivery of improved rail services. This includes strategies such as improved and coordinated local public transport, station redevelopment, and other complimentary regional development policies – e.g. the application of Regional (City) Deals which could be used to drive diverse place-based policy outcomes within a specific location.

Well-resourced, small-scale resettlement programs that provide events and activities, buddy programs and other resources have helped to support regional settlement. These can be driven by community volunteering efforts or local organisations.

For further information on the above recommendations, click here to view Urbis’ submission to the Inquiry into Regional Australia by Urbis Director Nathan Stribley.