Under the Building Better Regions Fund, funding is now out of reach for councils in fast-growing outer suburbs.
In June this year, it was announced the Federal Government’s National Stronger Regions Fund (NSRF) would receive a rebrand and become the Building Better Regions Fund.
The new fund is open exclusively to regional, rural and remote Australia, whereas the NSRF had extended to metropolitan areas.
The rationale for the shake-up was to stop regional areas competing with cities for funding, but the National Growth Areas Alliance (NGAA), a group of councils on city outskirts, has criticised the change.
“This was one of the few avenues available to councils on the outskirts of our capital cities to access money for much-needed infrastructure – and now we are being locked out of that as well,” said Glenn Docherty, the Chairman of the NGAA and Mayor of the
City of Playford in Adelaide’s north.
“This is a backwards step for our communities which are already struggling with poor infrastructure.
“There is no doubt the bush deserves attention, but so do the fast-growing outer suburbs of our capital cities.
“In fact, regional areas and the outer suburbs face some similar issues: lack of infrastructure and local jobs – and neither do as well as the inner metropolitan areas across a range of indicators.
“The clincher for the outer suburbs is that they are also struggling under the weight of enormous population growth.”
The NGAA has written to Minister Fiona Nash outlining these issues and pointing to the fact that outer suburbs often contain significant rural land holdings and can serve rural and regional communities beyond their boundaries.
“You can’t just look at lines on a map to determine whether areas deserve funding,” said Mayor Docherty.
“The picture is far more complex – and changing fast.”
