Decentralisation: one year on

Posted on 19 April, 2018

Today marks a year since the Federal Government announced a policy of decentralising the public service out of Canberra.

The rationale was a noble one of stimulating the regions: creating careers and confidence in those communities.

But of course, decentralisation by its very nature is about moving jobs, not creating them. Underlying the policy were the incorrect assumptions that Canberra is simply a public service workplace, not a home; that Canberrans are chess pieces who can be moved anywhere on a politician’s whim.

A year on, the policy has achieved little – its main outcomes being ongoing uncertainty for Canberrans and the policy’s increasing obfuscation. Apart from the beleaguered APVMA – where just a handful of officers have moved to Armidale but droves have left the agency entirely – no department has moved. The regions have been left wanting.

I’m not asking the Federal Government to abandon its desire to create jobs and opportunities in the regions. But there’s a better way for the Federal Government to spend its efforts than continuing to pursue a misguided policy that’s clearly going nowhere fast.

That better way has been right under their noses the whole time. That better way is learning and drawing inspiration from Australia’s greatest regional success story: Canberra.

That’s right, Canberra. When it comes to creating jobs, stimulating an economy and bolstering business confidence, the ACT is a leader. Don’t believe me?

We have the lowest unemployment rate in the country.

In 2016-17 our economy grew by 4.6 percent – the fastest of all states and territories.

Business confidence is the highest in Australia.

And over 10,000 jobs were created in the ACT in 2017. (Yes, created, not moved to us.)

How has it happened?

For starters, we’re increasingly diversifying our economy. We’ve made it a priority to attract national and international investment to our city. With domestic and international visitors breaking new records each year, it won’t surprise any Canberran that one in seven new jobs in the ACT is in the tourism sector. And those tourism records are thanks to years of strong advocacy which have seen Singapore Air, Qatar Airways and Tigerair add Canberra into their routes, making it easier than ever before for us to show the world what we’re about. The growing success of events like Floriade and Enlighten are attractive advertisements for our city.

We’ve taken bold steps to invest in city-building infrastructure like light rail and the University of Canberra Hospital. Stage 1 of light rail alone has created thousands of jobs. These significant investments have given rise to building and construction confidence, creating even more jobs in that sector.

And we’re embracing technology and new ways of doing things, with a big support for entrepreneurs. We were the first jurisdiction to legislate for ride-sharing, we’ve got trials underway for self-driving cars, and companies like Microsoft are investing here to deliver an innovative open cloud platform. We’ve taken serious steps to make it easier to do business in our city, from fewer regulations to lower payroll tax.

Finally, our city’s an attractive place to live because we’re an inclusive bunch. We’re a refugee welcome zone and had the highest yes vote for marriage equality. From community organisations to Government, we’re united in our focus on ensuring no one gets left behind. It makes us an attractive place to want to live.

We know how important stimulating regional economies is – because we are one. The Federal Government needs to look no further than our vibrant city to get some ideas on how to make good on its goal for the regions – and do away with the decentralisation policy once and for all.

Feature image: Martin Ollman