An excellent article. Gough Whitlam was probably the first politician to recognize the issue of regional growth; Gough and Tom Uren started the planning for the Albury-Wodonga scheme. Politicians since then have failed to seriously work to make regionalization work. Their most 'ambitious' plans are around sending migrants to regional towns and cities without any thought given to where these people would find work. Most of regional Australia is losing their young people to the capital cities as there is not the variety and quantity of jobs in the country towns and cities. I can speak from personal experience- all of my four children left Toowoomba as there was not any jobs that interested them in that city; all four found work in Brisbane or Melbourne.
What this federal government could do is to provide incentives to businesses which will relocate or expand operations to regional towns and cities. This would be a better solution than putting good money after bad into unemployment payments where there is no work in tourism and other industries affected by COVID 19.
Lastly, our farmers are looking for workers, but have to rely on foreign workers [backpackers]; when there are many young people in the cities who are without any income. When tourist operators squeal about not having any customers for two months, I feel no empathy as our farmers manage droughts for two years or longer and have to go to banks for support, whereas the federal government is now going to 'save' the tourism industry because it has had no customers for two months

Cyclone,
I agree with the bulk of your post. My perception of things re jobs is that the massively academic Left is pushing education for education's sake only. At every election we get saturation education promotion because they have hijacked the Media, the ABC & SBS in particular..
What they so blatantly ignore is that the bulk of young people don't actually want to attend university, they simply want their place in Life. Yet, these Leftists keep pushing the notion of every young person has the right to go to Uni. Yes, every young person has that right IF they're capable & willing/interested ! Making out that going to UNI is the most vital step in a young person's life is nothing short of stupid !
Promote Trades & small business & that'll slow the exodus from the country to the City where only misery & boredom & loss of belonging & loss of heterosexuality are the order of the day for most young folk !

Great article. However one thing it misses is the need for government, state & federal, to lead rather than push this movement from city centers to the suburbs & country towns. There is absolutely no reason today why bureaucrats need to be gathered in huge high rise clumps in city centers. The majority of government offices should be moved to the medium/outer ring of suburbs, & the the full range of country towns.

Ridiculous things like the Queensland center for tropical animal husbandry being in South East Queensland must change, & government offices must be placed where access is easiest for most people.

Canberra should be slowly wound down & the wealth extracted to pay & house bureaucrats, spread through out the country to support those who provide the money. All bureaucrats would be better public servants if they lived closer to those they are employed to administer.

With the removal of the majority of bureaucrats, those who serve them, & the retailers wanting to sell to them, the need for public transport to city centers would diminish, & the current transport infrastructure would be entirely adequate, with no need for expansion. The funds saved on no longer required upgrades could then be used through out the state & country where infrastructure is most lacking.

Even peak hour congestion & choke points would be dramatically reduced with traffic flows to many more dispersed points, rather than all to a central point.

Since only the brain dead would choose to move house and home west of the great divide, I imagine that this authors idea of regional, is the usual land huddle along the coast line.

Here is an already established dogs breakfast for land and real estate investors, for capitalising on the woes of the population. This thinking is purely opportunity, not ingenuity.
Go for it, but your not the first, and for profit, you won't be the last.

Dan

Planned economies don't have much of a longevity track record.

Back to the drawing board? Or, same, same old? With the usual robber barons calling the shots, jerking their puppet's strings

We could emerge out of this a stronger wealthier, more united people? But I think not!

There are some among us who aren't part of the community but set themselves apart and find every reason under the sun for a change for the better for the majority!

There still are some rogue employers, some shylock landlords and corrupt officials. And some VIP's who want everyone else to take the economic haircut! While they wax fat on the public purse and fossil fuel investments/dividends? Albeit, at arm's length or sheltering in a tax haven.

We're often told that the wealthiest pay the most tax? In dollar terms? Maybe, But as a percentage? No way, salary sacrifices, family trusts, negative gearing and excluded capital gains/subsidised super Super and you can see, WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER AND SHARING THE PAIN AND SACRIFICE EQUALLY!

Except for the young folk who will be left holding this huge debt burden, seem to be getting the rough end of the pineapple when it comes to work security, education and affordable housing and affordable energy.

We're told we can't have a car industry, because our wages are too high and a nonsense, when the energy bill is higher than the wages bill and what would we give to be building cars here now today, with all the spinoffs!? And thousands of jobs, jobs, jobs!

We can't become isolationist? Even if almost everyone else is? And given that does seem to be the case, we need some big ideas and visionaries at the helm to bring them and unprecedented prosperity to our future, as our intended future and for the billions we've saddled generations yet unborn with!

And we still do not have a federal ICAC! TBC.
Alan B.