STATE OF THE REGION LUNCHEON

GS017/2008
01 August 2008

LUNCHEON ADDRESS

Vic Central Highlands RDA
STATE OF THE REGION LUNCHEON
Alexandria on Lydiard Function Centre
BALLARAT

Parliamentary Secretary to be met by Peter Dwyer,
Executive Officer Vic Central Highlands RDA
Parliamentary Secretary to be introduced by David Clark,
Chair Vic Central Highlands RDA

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for the warm welcome David and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and a very special good afternoon to my colleague and new mum Catherine King.

It is a pleasure to join you for the fourth and last of your State of the Region meetings for 2008.

Being here today sends a strong message that you are keenly interested in the future sustainability of this beautiful and historic part of Victoria

- And the future role of Regional Development Australia.

Your passion is shared by my colleague, Catherine King, who does a brilliant job in representing the electorate of Ballarat.

Catherine also works tirelessly in her role as Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

Catherine is one of a group of parliamentarians who are defining what regional development means in the context of the Australian Government.

You see over the past thirty years Regional Development has been a policy matrix in the making - across the whole of the OECD no country can claim to have got it 100% right. So in Australia too, we are working on it. I will say more about this later.

As David said in his introduction, I'm here today representing the Rudd Government in my capacity as Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development.

In this role I work closely with Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese.

So, once again, thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to hear your views first hand.

After all this is your home turf and nobody knows it better.

Your federal member of parliament Catherine King has pointed out to me that this region is geographically one of the smaller Victorian Area Consultative Committees (ACCs)

- now known as Regional Development Australia.

With a population of around 88,000 and at just over 100 kilometres from Melbourne, Ballarat has maintained a strong sense of local identity and independence from the metropolis of Melbourne.

There is a strong education sector - two universities (University of Ballarat and Australian Catholic University), a strong tourism sector and a good base in building and brick and tile manufacture.

This region also occupies a key position at the hub of some of Victoria's busiest freight, tourist and commuter transport routes.

And in the industry of Australian Rules Football - Ballarat does very well.

In the school holidays I took my sons to an AFL clinic at East Fremantle football club. On a notice board I read a news clipping which said that the North Ballarat Football Club is one of the most successful clubs in the country in getting players into the national draft.

The AFL's top goal scorer Plugger Lockett and several other Brownlow medallists got a start in Ballarat. If an AFL team were to be based here they would give the established clubs a shake.

And as you would all be aware, in this pre-Olympic week, one of Australia's greatest athletes - Steve Moneghetti also hails from here.

In fact, on Wednesday I heard that more than 60 per cent of Australia's medallists in 2004 in Athens came from regional Australia - that says a great deal for the lifestyle available in our major regional centres.

Ballarat is one of Australia's largest inland cities, nearby Hepburn is the spa capital of Australia, Clunes sparked the beginning of the gold rush and Creswick is the birthplace of Norman Lindsay and John Curtin (and where Curtin met his first love).

As a West Australian we of course lay claim to our nations great war-time Prime Minister.

Of course Ballarat is the home of Australia's only civil uprising the Eureka Stockade.

It is on my wife's side of our family, a very special place.

Ballarat is where the Walsh family lived from 1916. Robert Walsh and Margaret Kelly farmed in this district, and had 8 children.

The Walsh family lived in Walsh Avenue.

Their eldest son, born in 1902 was also named Robert (Bob) jnr. Bob married young to an even younger Catholic girl who died of tuberculosis.

When she died, Bob took up rabbit trapping along the Murrumbidgee before making it to Melbourne.

Bob Walsh borrowed £600 from his mother, Margaret, and travelled by train to Western Australia, working on farms during the summer of 1929.

It was a disastrous year on the land - disastrous because of the collapse of wheat prices.

Bob jnr eventually settled in Western Australia, opening a farm in the district of Kellerberrin in 1934.

I have visited Ballarat many times, mainly when John Mildren was the Federal MP. Your unique political culture, history and beauty have always been fascinating to me.

So I see Ballarat as special.

Catherine has pointed out that this region has a fast growing population - I expect you are getting your fair share of people moving out of the big smoke for a better life - but you also have some small communities which are disadvantaged and undergoing structural change.

The Central Highlands need to attract the right industry and support projects which provide training opportunities and sustainable employment across the region.

The Rudd Government believes that all Australians, regardless of where they live, should be able to access good quality infrastructure and services.

That includes broadband.

Many of you here today are involved in local government and I can assure you, we recognise that local government is often the front line in providing essential infrastructure and services.

So, let me give you an update on the regional initiatives the Rudd Government has put in place since coming to office.

Let's start with local government...

The Rudd Government is providing nearly $1.9 billion in financial assistance grants to local governments in the 200809 financial year. The allocation for Victorian councils is $439.7 million (Ballarat not public until 15 August).

Twothirds of this funding will go to rural and regional councils in untied Financial Assistance Grants - untied so they can be spent according to local priorities.

I was pleased to see recently that the Local Government and Planning Ministers Council endorsed a series of nationally consistent guidelines on financial reporting and asset management. This will further assist local government's financial performance.

Most importantly, our agenda for infrastructure and regional development goes beyond writing cheques and bean counting.

We have said that we want to bring local government and local people to the table, and we are establishing the processes in which that can occur.

Minister Albanese is currently considering the membership and charter of the Council of Australian Local Governments (CoALG).

The Government is establishing CoALG because we believe there needs to be a direct conversation between local government and federal government on issues of national significance.

Such as: education, housing affordability, constitutional recognition, water, climate change and community infrastructure - they will all benefit through a new co-operative approach.

This will not be easy...

But we have to start now.

One of the first items on the CoALG agenda will be to discuss a process for constitutional recognition.

This is the Rudd Government delivering on another commitment we took to Australian voters at the election.

CoALG will provide a forum that allows local and Federal governments to meet and discuss issues of national importance and will ensure that the views of local government's are properly understood.

Now for a matter which is also close to your heart - Regional Development Australia or RDA.

At this point I should acknowledge the work and the commitment of Peter Dwyer and David Clark and the ACC many of whom are present

- Peter and David, I hope you will take our thanks and appreciation back to your colleagues at the Central Highlands RDA.

As you are keenly aware, we have already started the ball rolling to transition the ACC network into Regional Development Australia (RDA). This new body will work closely with local governments, other regional organisations and their communities.

Australian Labor Governments have a strong track record in supporting regional Australia and in working with local government.

The Whitlam Government was the first to provide untied financial assistance grants to local governments, and to support the establishment of the Regional Organisation of Councils.

Some remember the old Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD).

Tom Uren gave Anthony Albanese his start.

The Keating Government established Regional Economic Development Organisations (REDOs) the Howard Government then transformed them into the Area Consultative Committee network and the Regional Development Program.

Their original function was to provide advice and generate support for labour market programs but their activities have evolved over the years.

As I said earlier this history describes the development of the Australian Government's view of and capability to drive Regional Development.

The Rudd Government is transitioning the Area Consultative Committees - such as the Vic Central Highlands ACC - into a new network, Regional Development Australia or RDA which will have a much broader and more strategic role than the previous network.

We saw the role of ACCs become more and more focused on the former government's pork barrelling. That is not to say that the projects that were promoted by ACCs were not occasionally worthy of funding, but it was not a sustainable approach.

And it is not a fair approach. Pork barrelling is not regional development.

By building on and replacing the ACCs, RDA offers a real opportunity to provide a supporting mechanism for communities with a vision and the determination to make that vision a reality.

Minister Albanese and I have met with the interim board of RDA and we are continuing consultations in order to ensure the most effective engagement possible when the new structure comes into effect on the 1st of January next year.

I wrote to all RDA committees on the 30th of May 2008 asking them to consult with their regions and provide advice to Government on three issues:

• First, on improving the engagement of regional communities, regional development organisations and local governments with the Australian Government.
• Second, on the principles and priorities for the new Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program (RLCIP) to be developed as part of the 2009-10 Budget.
• And on the priorities for the types of local community infrastructure that could encourage economic development in local communities.

Most of the RDAs are well underway with their consultations, as I am sure you are, and I am attending as many of these as I can.

I have been pleased with the professionalism and enthusiasm with which many RDAs have approached the three tasks.

We are meeting with the Interim RDA Board on the 15th of September to discuss their consolidated response to Government on the first task regarding improving of communication and engagement.

We are looking forward to seeing what the diverse range of Australia's regions has come up with.

The Government is also seeking input into its regional agenda in other ways.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, which as I mentioned is chaired by your own Catherine King, has accepted a request from the Minister that it conduct an inquiry into regional funding.

The Committee represents all parties and independents.

The Committee is to report on the Australian National Audit Office's Performance Audit of the Regional Partnerships Program.

It will also make recommendations on ways to invest in genuine regional economic development and community infrastructure to enhance the sustainability and liveability of Australia's regions. The report is due this November.

We are also consulting with State, Territory and local government.

We have just returned from the north west of Western Australia where we attended a meeting of regional development Ministers - the Regional Development Council (RDC).

Among other things, we discussed better alignment between Commonwealth and State/Territory regional development arrangements and structures.

We have a unique opportunity to implement a more strategic, responsive and flexible approach to regional development and I look forward to working closely with all RDA committees and, through them, the people of regional Australia in implementing this agenda.

BETTER REGIONS

During the election, we also committed to providing direct investment into much needed community facilities and services in regional Australia.

As shadow Minister, Simon Crean engaged with local communities and local government, creating the Better Regions projects, which he built through genuine consultation, by bringing all parties to the table, by listening to the advice of the locals.

Simon's vision was that the Better Regions projects would go to the heart of community development needs:

• the revitalisation of main streets;
• multi-purpose community and resource centres;
• sport and recreational venues; and
• transport infrastructure.

We are committed to implementing these projects with the highest standards of public administration, and are currently developing a set of guidelines so they can be contracted and commence.

In line with the Government's approach to the Better Regions program and all of our infrastructure investments, this new program will be accountable, transparent and is based on Simon's assessment of community needs.

Here in Ballarat, this means a $1.5 million upgrade to the YMCA aquatic centre, including a new hydrotherapy pool, and expanding facilities at the Trentham neighbourhood centre ($200,000).

Better Regions, and regional partnerships have served their purpose and are now closed and we move on to a better system and a better process.

That process as I described will be informed by current consultations and the parliamentary inquiry, and a key feature of it will be transparency and accountability.

CLOSING

Before I finish up, I would like to take one last look at Regional Partnerships.

As RDA members would be aware, we closed the program after the ANAO's damning 1,200 page report into its administration.

But it was clear that many groups had already started work based on false promises by the previous government that funding agreements had been finalised.

That's why in late May the Prime Minister gave local councils and community groups the opportunity to finalise 86 contracts if they could meet strict requirements and timetables.

In order to start negotiations, these groups had to demonstrate they were able to meet the following conditions:

• the project still meets the Regional Partnerships program criteria;
• money has already been spent or commitments entered into in good faith based on the advice from the previous government;
• they are able to meet the conditions of the original funding offer; and
• contract negotiations could be finalised by 31 July 2008

That was yesterday.

There were 86 projects that were given this opportunity. Today I can inform you that 47 of these have contracts signed.

In addition, a further 9 groups are being given until 15 August to finalise their contracts - due to some delays in assessing their projects' eligibility.

Three groups did not take up the Government's offer because they had either decided not to proceed with their project or had found other funding.

This means that 27 projects did not meet the conditions of offer and were not able to proceed to the next stage of contracting.

Half the unsuccessful projects didn't meet the Regional Partnerships criteria at the time the former government approved them. They should never have been approved, and communities should not have been misled.

You can check out the projects on our departmental website where we have transparently tracked the 86 projects through the assessment process.

As I've said today, and in many similar forums around the country, the Rudd Government is implementing a nationbuilding infrastructure agenda, linked to an agenda for sustainable regional development.

People like you:

• future thinkers,
• civic leaders,
• members of Regional Development Australia,
• representatives of local government,

Have a role to play in the success of our regional development agenda.

I know that so often regional interests and regional development are driven by grumpy self reliance - a spirit of get up and go - and by engagement.

The Government is committed to engaging with you because we know empowered rural and regional communities make the greatest contribution to the wellbeing of their residents and to the national interest.

In closing, I'd like to say I think it is very fitting today's luncheon has been held in this historic centre which I'm told dates from 1875 - that's one hundred and thirty three (133) years of history.

A pretty good example of sustainability.

This centre is not only a beautiful and historic landmark; it is an important piece of local infrastructure. This centre:

• supports local industries;
• generates jobs and economic activity; and
• stimulates community engagement and development.

These are the things good local infrastructure does. They are the things good strong grumpy local advocates do. It is how we build good, strong, resilient sustainable communities.

I thank you for the role you play.

I thank Catherine for her invitation and I congratulate her on the birth of Ryan.

I understand we have some time for questions and I am happy to elaborate on any topic I have touched on today - or to clarify any issues which I may not have covered.

Thank you.