Regional plan stirs emotion

Development shake-up welcomed, attacked

Written by Philip Nolan. - source: Wangaratta Chronicle

A JOINT government plan to re-shape regional development services has come under fire politically but been welcomed at a local level.

The state and federal governments have agreed to close Victoria’s 12 Area Consultative Committee offices by June 30 and move their responsibilities under the Regional Development Australia banner.

The North East Area Consultative Committee has been run out of Shepparton for the past 13 years, with the current chairman being a former principal of Goulburn Ovens TAFE at Wangaratta, Eric Lund.

The Rural City of Wangaratta has also had two representatives on the board, with council’s economic development manager Graeme Nickless having been a member for 13 years, and Wangaratta Unlimited’s Jock Vance also being a member.

Area consultative committees have been the key link between local and state government and the Federal Government in assessing and then obtaining funding for major community projects around the region.

The North East group, headed up by Shepparton’s Shane O’Brien, has been very active in recent years, and has attracted the second highest level of government funding of all ACCs around Australia.

Sophie Mirabella (MHR, Indi) said that doing away with the ACCs meant that the Federal Government was thowing away ties with rural regions.

"What is alarming is that under this plan, the replacement bodies will now be controlled by state government agencies. Federal Labor is just giving their state Labor mates more power to neglect the bush," she said.

Victorian National Party leader, Peter Ryan, said he was concerned that existing ACC staff would lose their jobs and that regional Victoria would lose "a wealth of corporate knowledge on regional development issues".

"For the past 12 years, ACCs have provided a valuable link between government agencies, businesses and the community, helping to stimulate growth and economic activity," he said.

However, Wangaratta’s long-serving ACC member, Graeme Nickless, said that there were many benefits in aligning the regions with existing Regional Development Victoria regions.

"Wangaratta will be part of the Hume region, and with RDV already operating from Wangaratta, this could bring a positive result for the city," he said.

"While the existing NEACC did a wonderful job, there were issues with the crossover of regions and things like border anomalies.

"The fact that the NEACC was very successful in attracting a high level of funding is a measure of its effectiveness, but the new model has a lot of benefits going for it.

"The outcome is pretty much what the Rural City of Wangaratta put forward in its submission to the regional development inquiry last year. We think it will be a good model and hopefully see all three levels of government working together."