Australia must invest in the regions that are the source of our wealth. It is nauseating to hear the pejorative "pork barrelling" used for what is strategic investment. We must think of the benefits of regionalism logically; where are the coal mines, the iron ore mines, wheat paddocks, cotton fields, the cattle, many of the tourism attractions?
Why is a bus network in a capital city "nation building investment" but a road in regional Australia welfare?
Now have a look around your room and ask yourself a very simple question, how many of the consumer items that reflect your standard of living came off a boat from overseas? So who is putting something on a boat and sending it in the other direction to pay for all of this?
The fact is while only a third of Australians live in regional Australia, over half of our exports come from regional Australia.
If a person with two dollars goes to a table of four and kicks off a series of transactions that move the coin around the table, then broadly speaking the Gross Domestic Product of that table would be $10. The person with the coin is often Regional Australia and if they didn't turn up, the GDP of the four remaining people would be zero.
People often lose sight of the fundamental economics of Australia by failing to think of the source of our wealth not just its location. My shire of Balonne, in western Queensland, in a year, produces $600 million of cotton, over $100 million of grain, about $30 -$40 million worth of cattle, as well as sheep, wool, grapes, onions, kangaroo meat, wild pigs and free range eggs. About $750 million dollars of annual renewable income from approximately 5,000 people.
Investing in the areas that produce this wealth would seem to me to be a pretty smart thing to do, especially if we want to pay off our $197 billion in gross debt, plus a similar amount in State government debt.
Canberra, if we don't start paying off debt rather than just accumulating it you might not have a job. Like America, we've just had to extend our debt ceiling as well.
Parts of Queensland and NSW are currently living with the coal seam gas boom. Even Sydney has an exploration license over it for what's underneath it. In some areas the roads are getting wrecked. There are people charging over the land in white Toyota wagons with red flags on what looks like a fishing pole strapped to the bullbar.
Some of their wells are producing $1 million a day in gross income. For this, farmers get anywhere between a slab of beer at the worst and up to around $10,000 a year at the best. So the farmer gets less than one per cent of the income stream from the wells that sit on their place, affecting the land's value and in some instances completely compromising how the farm works.
Are there new houses in these regions? No, generally not, just trucked in demountables called “dongas", lined up like barracks. It looks like you've been invaded by an army. Their lifestyle is not very good and their contribution to your community is generally not very good either.
When the wool industry came they developed the pubs, the roads and the towns. The money stayed local and was spent local. With wool production in regional Australia we were the richest nation on earth.
With the cattle industry we had the development of Northern Australia and genuine progress in the income of Indigenous people in some areas and genuine dignity in having their own business and the prospect of greater independence for their communities.
But in some areas, if the coal seam gas industry left tomorrow, the only legacy they would leave is potholes. Sure, State coffers would be upset, but in some areas of regional Australia they couldn't give a toss, in fact they would be better off without them.
Royalties must be reinvested in the regions that generate the income stream; not all royalties, but a substantial proportion. Taxation rates must be adjusted so that we can develop regions. People must be encouraged to fly in and stay and live, not fly in and fly out.
Australia must have a genuine vision for a much wider development of our regions, otherwise what we are will be as good as it gets and over time we will become tired, worn out and diminished.