It’s a common lament from councillors that you need to be in a marginal seat to get any political traction.
That is undoubtedly true, but the increasing volatility in both federal and state spheres means that more seats are now marginal.
And the rise of the independents ensures that voters in normally safe seats shouldn’t be taken for granted.
This is surely good for democracy.
However getting a fair hearing at the federal level is tougher compared with the state level because of the greater numbers, the distance factor and the fact that Canberra machinery doesn’t have much feel for outlying electorates.
It was therefore quite intriguing to recently read a paper by John Tomaney of University College London.
Titled ‘The Role of Local and Regional Institutions’, it argues that regions need to be encouraged to strengthen their ‘voice’ in dealing with governments, other regions and other countries.
They also need to be proactive in fostering linkages among the private, public and education sectors.
Tomaney’s wider proposition is that institutional bottlenecks are a key explanatory factor for poor economic performance in certain regions.
Such bottlenecks can include poor mobilisation of stakeholders, lack of continuity and coherence in policy implementation, institutional instability, lack of a common and strategic vision, lack of capacity and gaps in multi-level governance frameworks.
He says that good quality infrastructure only has a positive impact if it’s accompanied by improvements in human capital and innovative capacity, and that it’s vital that institutions actively facilitate negotiation and dialogue among the key players in development matters.
This sounds eminently sensible, but how would a region know if it has a problem in the space?
I’ve not come across any comparative studies or benchmarking analysis.
The reason presumably because it’s all rather subjective and rubbery – a patchwork quilt.
For example, there are:
- local councils numbering around 550, with probably half of these cash-strapped and not fully performing their statutory functions
- Regional Development Australia committees, whose task is to be the fed’s window into the 55 regions
- numerous universities – some doing great things while others appear lost
- regional organisations of Councils
- regional leadership committees e.g. in Victoria there are Committees for Melbourne, Gippsland, Shepparton, Ballarat, Wyndham etc
- longstanding state agencies like the DPIs and TAFEs
- churches and community clubs such as Lions, Rotary, CWA
- sporting clubs – important institutions in small towns
- various other groups and networks of farmers, environmentalists, migrants etc
- local federal and state MPs and their staffs.
How these institutions provide the glue to move a region or community forward would obviously vary.
In some cases they provide a good synergy, in others duplication or gaps.
Having a strong institutional base is important as the New Federalism rolls out, with accompanying devolution of programs and responsibilities.
We are mulling over whether to lobby for funds for a Cockatoo member to develop a measurement and monitoring system.
Resource rent tax…we never learned!
Professor Roy Green, Dean of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School, gave a frank keynote address at a Sydney conference recently.
He argued that the significant deterioration in Australia’s terms of trade require a fundamental reassessment of our economic policies, and unless there is a huge productivity improvement, Australia cannot maintain GDP growth in the 2-3 percent range.
The minerals boom had a pernicious effect, resulting in a hollowing out of large sections of our industrial capacity.
We caught the Dutch disease – the Norwegians saw it coming and set up their Wealth Fund (76 percent resource rent tax), but Australia never learned.
Among his other points were:
- the world is spiky because certain areas have superior competitive advantage and an ability to connect e.g. 40 percent of Australia’s creative industries are within 2km of UTS. The Europeans’ Smart Specialisation program is a valuable program in this regard.
- we are seeing the demise of vertically-integrated multinationals – this presents the opportunity for SMEs to embed themselves in Global Value Chains.
- Australia is weak in instilling a talent mindset.
- the ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ (PM&C, 2012) report never got full recognition.
- the next steps are to identify areas of existing and potential competitive advantage (Technology Foresight work); support SMEs participation in global value chains, promote design and innovation and upgrade management capability.
Regional investments
As previously advised, the Cockatoo Network is now promoting projects to prospective Asian and European business migrants.
The emphasis is away from Sydney and Melbourne.
There is a $1,000 up-front charge, thereafter a modest success fee.
Two examples – a cleaning business and a semi-rural property development – are available online at www.cockatooconsulting.com.au.
Chilly Canberra
Your national capital is getting chilly – lots of empty shops, looming public service strikes, clubs and bars searching for customers.
It’s called structural adjustment.
But one gem is the National Arboretum.
It copped ill-informed criticism when it began about five years ago.
The trees are nothing to rave about yet, but the views are sensational.
Rod Brown is a Canberra-based consultant and lobbyist specialising in industry/regional development, investment attraction and clusters, and accessing federal grants. He also runs the Cockatoo Network.
Phone: (02) 6231 7261 or 0412 922 559
Email: apdcockatoo@iprimus.com.au
Blog: www.investmentinnovation.wordpress.com (750 articles)
