Council & Business
21 December, 2023
Council advocate to PM following Meet the Neighbours doco
The Central Goldfields Shire Council will champion advocacy for regional communities nation-wide, writing to the Prime Minister in a bid to redress disadvantage and a lack of investment in smaller communities. The decision comes following the airing...
The Central Goldfields Shire Council will champion advocacy for regional communities nation-wide, writing to the Prime Minister in a bid to redress disadvantage and a lack of investment in smaller communities.
The decision comes following the airing of three-part SBS documentary Meet The Neighbours last month, which described Maryborough as one of the whitest and poorest communities in the nation.
The program, presented by Myf Warhurst, followed a social experiment where skilled workers with diverse migrant backgrounds moved to Maryborough to fill labour shortages with local businesses.
The social experiment also aimed to provide insight into the challenges faced by regional Australia and reflected on what the bigger solutions for towns across the country might be.
Following lengthy discussions at this week’s ordinary council meeting, councillors chose to write to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to commence a “national conversation” within National Cabinet with a view to develop a strategy redressing the challenges facing regional Australian towns.
Introducing the motion to the meeting, councillor Chris Meddows-Taylor said there was a growing divide between regional communities and those in the city, with a national approach needed to support better local outcomes.
“The sole purpose of this is advocacy — making a case for a fairer deal for regional Australian towns and to ask the Prime Minister to champion this within the National Cabinet,” he said.
“In GDP terms, there has been a marked under-investment over decades in regional Australia and regional Australian towns.
“Councillors will recall our own study not that long ago where over two-thirds of our employers reported difficulty or extreme difficulty in recruiting, attracting and retaining staff.
“Challenges included housing, services, childcare, GP services, infrastructure issues, communications technology and transport — there are a range of issues which contribute to difficulty.”
Cr Meddows-Taylor said council should leverage from the nationally aired Meet the Neighbours documentary while it is still fresh in people’s minds.
“We have this opportunity and we are in the spotlight now, I believe it is the right time now,” he said.
“Let’s use this brief spotlight we’ve had on national television to start the conversation and redress the generations of entrenched disadvantage in regional Australian towns.
“I’m optimistic — change can happen in the case where change is made. It’s time to make the case for a fairer regional Australian environment so let’s start that conversation.”
The motion stated that as well as the Prime Minister, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and members of parliament would all be sent copies of the letter.
Councillor Wayne Sproull seconded the motion and said while individual views of the documentary may vary for residents, the core of the matter was sourcing better outcomes for residents.
“I’m sure most people in our shire have seen the three part series Meet the Neighbours,” he said.
“Whilst individual views on this are differing, this motion in particular focuses on the reasons and results of the process, rather than a review of the television series.
“We have a lot of difficult and complex problems to deal with in our shire from housing to worker attraction and retention, public transport and access to medical services.
“These challenges are all intertwined with each other and while council continue to work on these, it’s our advocacy around these issues that is crucial — these aren’t issues that council can solve by itself.”
Cr Sproull said council is willing and has worked to address local issues for decades, however requires more and continued support.
“Maryborough is a great place — I wouldn’t have chosen to live here and represent this community if I didn’t think that, but we can’t always have rose coloured glasses on either,” he said.
“There are parts, as in most communities, that are less than desireable — higher than average unemployment, youth disengagement, telecomunications issues, lack of public transport — the list goes on.
“We need to take a broad focus and look at the links between these issues in order to navigate towards a better tomorrow and this must have the support of all government tiers.
“Maryborough may have been the location for Meet the Neighbours, but the series could have reflected any number of rural and regional towns across Australia.
“This is an opportunity to leverage the findings of the documentary to advocate for a national review of the two-speed Australia.”
Councillors Grace La Vella and Anna De Villiers spoke against the motion however, with Cr La Vella explaining a stronger advocacy push could be made if the organisation formed a coalition with other local, regional councils.
“The sentiment is excellent, but yet again we are making a council decision around something we have not robustly discussed previously,” she said.
“I believe this motion needs to be discussed with all councillors in the new year, there is nothing to be gained by sending this letter to ministers this close to Christmas and I don’t understand the urgency to push this through today.
“I believe we need to advocate with a coalition of regional and rural councillors to address this dire issue because they’re all in the same situation.”
When the motion came to a vote, all councillors with the exception of Cr De Villiers voted in favour.