NOW in its 16th year, the John Furphy Memorial Lecture, which honours the memory of John Furphy, was held at Shepparton Art Museum on November 13. Hosted by the Furphy Foundation and La Trobe University, this year’s lecture was presented by Liz Ritche, CEO of the Regional Australia Institute (RAI).
Ms Ritchie’s lecture, titled Regionalisation – Striving to Rebalance the Nation, spoke of the massive growth of regional populations and economies and the best way forward for the nation.
“The RAI is the nation’s first and only independent think tank dedicated to building robust regional economies. Informed by both research and ongoing dialogue with the community, the RAI develops policy solutions and advocates for changes to build a stronger economy and a better quality of life in regional Australia,” Ms Ritchie explained.
She said that the regions are growing at an unprecedented rate never seen before. “In the year 2000, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported regional Australia had a population of just over 6.9 million people. In the preceding five-year period, the growth rate of our regional areas was a mere 0.9 per cent.
“Today, the regions are viewed through a lens of surplus and opportunity,” Ms Ritchie said. “Earlier this year, the ABS announced the population of regional Australia was 9.78 million people. The growth rate up more than 6 per cent since 2018. That’s a staggering turnaround and transformational shift.
“In fact, the RAI’s latest Regional Movers Index report – which analyses quarterly population movement – shows 27 per cent more people are moving from the cities to the regions than back in the opposite direction. City dwellers are continuing to flock to the regions, and regional Australians are staying put, content with their lifestyles.”
Ms Ritchie highlighted RAI’s ‘Regional Ambition 2032’ document, which found that a highly urbanised Australia with mega cities was not the best way forward. “Instead, the research suggested Australia could benefit from a more widely distributed spread of population,” said Ms Ritchie.
Regional Ambition 2032 sets out 20 goals to work towards over the next decade with five pillars: Jobs & Skills, Population, Liveability, Productivity & Innovation, and Sustainability & Resilience.
“Under those pillars sit the targets we need to move the dial on regional Australia, like reducing recruitment difficulty in the regions; like increasing the school attainment rate in the regions; like ensuring that the majority of regional Australia has a moderate to high capacity for disaster resilience; and that regional communities have adequate rental vacancy rates, and new house builds are keeping up with population growth,” said Ms Ritchie.
“If we are able to create a regional Australia where accessing a doctor is easier, where securing a place at a childcare centre is easier, where gaining a qualification is easier, imagine what sort of regional Australia that would be? We move from good, to better, to best.”
“John Furphy knew that, but he also knew that it’s the sum of the parts that make the story,” Ms Ritchie concluded. “What John Furphy established here and did for the area, helped – in part – to set Shepparton on a path of prosperity, but he didn’t act alone. Tonight, I ask you, what can you do to ensure Shepparton continues on that path?”
