The Hinchinbrook Shire in north Queensland is a great place to run a business and raise a family. Sadly, a lack of infrastructure, funding and innovative policies, combined with regulations and restrictions that strangle existing and emerging industries, has seen our beautiful shire decline in recent years.
Fortunately, we are currently benefiting from a population influx as Australians choose to escape the Covid-19 crisis in metropolitan areas in favour of our laid-back lifestyle, surrounded by pristine natural attractions and world-class fishing.
While we attempt to capitalise on the opportunities presented by this exciting new trend, a strain is put on our meagre infrastructure and we are reminded of the gaps.
The upcoming election further reinforces the importance of these issues, highlighting that small business owners in regional Australia like myself require the critical infrastructure taken for granted in the bigger cities to increase the capacity and efficiency of our operations.
Telecommunications, for example, remains a persistent challenge.
Locals joke that “once you’re north of Townsville, you’d might as well be on the moon” but how can we support our residents and businesses or attract investment without adequate mobile phone service and internet speeds?
While new residents invigorate the economy and oftentimes address local skills shortages, the availability (or lack thereof) of rental properties presents another barrier. Despite an oversupply of existing and affordable houses that need a little TLC, there is little incentive to actually purchase these properties, so many people opt to buy vacant land and build from scratch.
This is great for the construction industry, but the capacity of our local tradies and suppliers is limited and we would love to see existing housing stock given a new lease on life. For years we lobbied for the First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) to be expanded to include existing homes, but both levels of government made excuses not to expand the program due to the alleged “artificial inflation” of prices that would ensue.
Further requests for renovations to existing homes to become eligible under the FHOG again fell on deaf ears, despite the support of construction industry bodies, real estate agents and Katter’s Australian Party. Sadly, the Australian government’s Home Building Grant brought little benefit to our region, because the minimum renovation value was set too high and new home construction was concentrated in the cities.
Conversely, the recent funding announcement for Hells Gate Dam was appreciated. Water security supports agriculture which is the backbone of our local economy.
The high-value crop production attributed to Hells Gate Dam is expected to yield $800m a year, indicating that the $5.6bn investment will pay off quickly. This project will support agricultural diversification for a more resilient economy but, as always, the devil is in the detail.
Sadly, flood mitigation hasn’t been prioritised and many fear the project will never amount to its full potential. Why can’t local issues like flooding be factored into major projects?
Similarly, we initially rejoiced at the announcement that a $10bn reinsurance pool was being introduced after dealing with sky-high premiums for years, but as details slowly emerged, we began to have doubts.
While we still hope to see some savings, it clearly won’t be the salvation we were hoping for. The scope of the scheme disregards the reality of our local experiences and limits the benefits we were looking forward to.
These issues aside, we cannot deny the benefits of the Boosting Apprenticeships Commencement scheme and other programs that supported our ability to employ and retain staff after Covid-19 emerged. My husband and I are proud to provide jobs to local young people so that they don’t have to leave their families, or their home towns, to search for work in the cities.
All in all, we feel that we have been heard and supported (at least a little) in the last few years. It’s frustrating that it takes an election to see funding committed and promises made after years of neglect, but there has certainly been progress.
Now that a federal election is looming, many in the area fear the thought of Labor securing power due to their perceived association with the Greens. We live in an agricultural region that is trying to grow tourism and all too often we see governments making “environmentally-friendly” decisions without understanding the impacts of their policies, or the reality of the issues they are trying to tackle.
Our farmers are not destroying the reef, they’re feeding the nation. Improved marine access won’t destroy ecosystems, it will support new industries. And don’t get us started on urban flying-fox roosts!
While most of these grievances are under the state’s jurisdiction, the fear is ever-present; would life get harder if the Australian Labor party exerted more pressure and control over our lives at a federal level as well as a state level?
What we need moving forward is less pandering to metropolitan voters and more focus on local needs, local challenges and local solutions. We want less red-tape and less green-tape. We want a government that understands and appreciates small business, not a government that applauds the jobs we create while collecting our taxes to invest elsewhere.
We want genuine and meaningful representation.
Rachael Coco is a contract administrator in Queensland
