There has been a lot of focus on the greater capital city regions during the Covid-19 period, with many of the non-urban centres barely rating a mention. Many residents in these towns would suggest that this is standard fare when the vast majority of power-brokers call the cities home. With the most recent employment data for the regions still lagging by six months, the question actually has to be asked, “Were the regions better equipped to deal with the downturn and why was that so?”

Unemployment rates are one measure that can be used to look at community resilience. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems within those regions, simply that unemployment is one less problem they have to deal with. Anything under five percent is generally considered full employment, on this data, many of Queensland’s rural towns have outperformed their more highly touted city relatives.

The above graph highlights the top 10 coastal regional centres in terms of their unemployment rate. These cities/Local Government Areas (LGA’s) also include Toowoomba as being part of South East Queensland, whilst the black bars represent the lowest unemployment rates in the State of Queensland; pre Covid-19. Interestingly, not one LGA from South East Queensland is represented in the top ten. In fact Toowoomba is the first SEQ LGA at rank 15 and Redland being the second best features at number 18.

Long held economic theory has typically worked on the premise of economies of scale and how larger populations often create more opportunities. Yet for many parts of Queensland this doesn’t hold true, particularly where house prices and asset values are considered.

The median house price as seen above also reflects the difference in major centres compared to the smaller regional LGA’s. Often they are less than half the price, despite having incomes that are not significantly dissimilar. Servicing a mortgage in theory then becomes a far less stressful proposition for a rural household.

The argument around people moving to regional centres to telecommute, on the surface has considerable merit. However, that is often on the presumption that technology is as good as the capital cities, when unfortunately, this is often not the case. This is a significantly limiting factor to growing many of these centres and in some respects, needs to be treated as equally important as health, transport infrastructure and education. If the Pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that good technology significantly advantages communities that have it over those that don’t. This gap will only widen the longer this disparity remains unaddressed.

Many of the above smaller regional LGA’s have populations that are smaller than some master planned residential communities. However, the paradox is this is often what city town planners are trying to achieve in the greater capital city areas. Villages, active community spaces, sporting fields and neighbourliness where people actually know each other and take pride in their community. Regional centres have this in abundance; you only have to look at the rivalries that build up between towns and the ownership they have of their successful residents, even if they no longer live there.

There is no doubt that regional centres will play an integral role in the future development of the country, as well as providing a destination for population growth outside of often clogged capital cities. There needs to be a concerted and sustained capital flow to grow these great centres and provide opportunities for the existing and future residents. It is time to rethink how we grow as a nation with regional centres at the forefront of that discussion.

Matthew Gross | Director | mgross@nprco.com.au

Is It Time To Rethink Regional Centres?

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