The good ol' days maybe tomorrow -

Can the new National Broadband Network bring back the glory days to regional Australia? Perhaps skilled people of all ages and persuasions will retreat from the cities and seek a more productive and healthy lifestyle? Will they need to compromise their professional aspirations to do so?

Regional Australia often conjures up feelings of the good old days. A time when we had time for each other and contributed to our community. Days past when buying a decent family house was a commitment not a life sentence. When living in a healthy natural environment was taken as a given. Many of us holiday in regional Australia to keep a tenuous connection to these good things.

Though regional Australia is now also associated with compromise. Compromise in your professional career, educational opportunities and quality health services. Some would even cite compromises in the availability to fashionable clothes and accessories. All these compromises snowball across the nation effectively repelling people from seriously considering living in regional Australia for a long period. Sadly many young people from across Australia leave their towns and cities to redress these common perceptions.

Ready to retire: An old PMG phone line still used.

The cumulative economic effect of all this compromise severely limits the sustainable development of regional Australia. Successive governments have and do spend big money in redressing some of these perceived and real compromises, often in a vain hope of kick starting regional economies. Roads, railways, airports, schools, health services, sporting and cultural facilities have all been funded by governments. Sadly the perception of compromise still sticks and local economies are often stuck in boom and bust cycles.

The National Broadband Network investment is different in two major ways. First, the NBN is being built in the midst of the fastest growing market sector of the global economy, the digital economy. Subsequently has very real income streams are attached to it, unlike most other regional investments.

The NBN is unique too in that it will deliver services that will directly address the compromises associated with regional Australia. Health & education services, often the hardest services to deliver to regions are already being enhanced over the NBN. Professional development through teleworking and local business opportunities are starting to address stubborn regional compromises. Even amazing new ways of shopping for fashion items are being delivered through the NBN infrastructure. 

I believe many regions will become renewed hubs of innovative production and distribution, because of their lower cost base and motivated local workforce. 

In my own region and my own business on the NSW Central Coast we are already seeing benefits in renewed private investment and initiatives stimulated by our region's NBN rollout schedule. 

All these positives will lead to a renaissance for regional Australia not seen for over 100 years. Our metropolitan infrastructure may be slowing the nation down, though regional Australia will quite literally start growing at the speed of light.

Dave Abrahams

Chair

Regional Development Australia Central Coast

This article is part of the publication: 'Transforming Australia - The Broadband Revolution and the Digital Economy' ISBN 978 0 646 58138 5