City and country divide
The country independents have once again highlighted the city, country divide.
So, we’re back to worrying about RARA – rural and regional Australia. Thanks to the newly acquired political leverage of the two country independents, we’re now being told the regions haven’t been given their fair share and, in future, ”equity principles” should prevail.
There’s a lot of righteous indignation on the part of many country people and, I suspect, quite a bit of sympathy on the part of city folk. But there are also a lot of misconceptions.
Many people have the impression there has been a continuous flow of people leaving the country for the big city. It’s not that simple. The capital cities’ share of Australia’s population hasn’t been increasing.
While there has been a flow of people leaving inland regions for the cities, there’s also been a flow of people – particularly the retired – leaving the cities for coastal regions. So many coastal towns and cities (such as Rob Oakeshott’s Port Macquarie) have been growing strongly. Their problem is not declining population but keeping up with the increasing needs of an ever-bigger population.
Even with the inland regions it’s not simply a matter of everyone leaving for the big city. In many cases it’s people leaving small towns and villages for bigger regional centres (such as Tony Windsor’s Tamworth).