Overview
The Committee conducted two surveys to gain the views of people who:
already live in regional communities; and secondly
live in metropolitan areas but may consider moving to a regional area.
Almost 4,000 responses in total were received. The Committee thanks all those who participated in the surveys for their time and for sharing their views.
First Survey – Regional Views
The first survey was launched on 29 November 2019. The survey consisted of 13 questions to gain the views of people who live and work in regional Australia. Some questions were designed for those under 25 only.
Stakeholders were notified of the survey via email and the survey was also promoted via Facebook. This promotion concluded at the end of December 2019, by which time over 600 responses had been received.
In late February 2020 the survey was promoted among inquiry participants, who were encouraged to further distribute the survey.
The survey closed on 13 March 2020 and received 3,244 responses. In accordance with Committee convention, the results were not published, but have been referred to throughout the report.
Summary of results
The first question asked related to the age of the respondent.
Almost two thirds of respondents (63.4%) were aged 46 years or older. The breakdown by age is as follows:
The second question asked how long the respondent had lived in regional Australia. The vast majority of respondents (81.6%) have lived in regional Australia for longer than 10 years, with 1,279 (39.4%) spending their entire life there. 305 respondents (9.4%) had lived in regional Australia for less than 5 years. 58 respondents (1.8%) did not live in regional Australia.
Questions 3 to 6 were directed at respondents who identified as being under 25 years of age.
Question 3 asked: ‘Thinking about the future, do you know what job you want?’ This question was answered by 151 respondents who identified themselves as being 25 years old or younger. Only 18 responses (11.9%) said ‘No’ to this question. Of the responses which nominated an industry or profession, agriculture, the environment, health, education and ICT featured prominently.
Question 4 followed on and asked if the respondent could do that job where they lived. Ninety (60.8%) of the 148 responses answered ‘Yes’. Fifty-eight (39.2%) answered ‘No’.
The next question was also for under 25s, and asked what might cause them to leave their community. 149 respondents answered this question. Thirty-two respondents (21.5%) specifically mentioned ‘opportunity’ or ‘opportunities’ in their answer, while ‘work’ or ‘education’ featured in 102 (68.5%) responses.
Access to services, facilities, conservative attitudes, isolation and housing were other issues that featured in a number of responses.
Some responses to this question included:
There are few full time jobs in my industry and we do not currently have the capacity to create enough work for full time jobs in the creative industry.
The community slowly becoming smaller due to decreased economic prospects.
Not being able to find full time work or affordable housing.
I would never leave it, regardless of circumstances.
Question 6 asked if respondents would be interested in meeting the Committee if it visited a nearby area. Eighty-nine responses (60.1%) answered ‘No’. Fifty-nine (39.9%) answered ‘Yes’.
The remaining questions were directed to all survey respondents.
Question 7 asked respondents to best describe their employment, based on suggested categories. Primary producers made up 295 (11.1%) of respondents, outnumbered by Education (371 responses – 13.9%), Government services (391 responses – 14.7%) and Other (1,210 responses – 45.4%). Tourism and Supply Chain (78 responses each – 2.9%) were the least represented industries; 241 respondents (9.1%) selected Health care provider.
Some respondents who nominated an occupation in the ‘Other’ category could be included in the above sectors. These included Health (additional 47 responses) and Primary Producer (43 additional responses). Among the ‘Other’ responses:
390 (12%) said that they had retired from the workforce.
Self-employed, construction and community services also featured heavily.
63 (1.9%) stated that they were unemployed or on some form of assistance.
The eighth question asked people to nominate their main reason for living in regional Australia from a range of options which best described their situation, or to specify another reason. Participants responded in the following way:
Always lived here – 18.6 %
Many of the responses in the ‘Other’ category repeated the suggested answers eg ‘Lifestyle’ or ‘Work’. Other reasons included: local family and friends; housing affordability; being closer to the environment; open spaces; privacy and general cost of living. Several respondents noted they had lived in metropolitan areas but left due to overcrowding or affordability.
Question 9 asked respondents to reflect on doing business in regional Australia, and asked what people found challenging. Common themes among the 2,182 responses were personal connections and the clear chain of economy. Challenges included connectivity and distance to services. Some responses included:
You build wonderful relationships with clients but you are also limited for clients. Spreading your services brings associated travel costs and increased overheads.
The greatest challenge to doing business in regional Australia is the expectation that it is always possible to provide the same services and timelines as are routine in metro areas. We have slow internet, patchy phone coverage, power outages, bad roads and poor access to basic services (especially health).
I like the space, less people and knowing people in my community. It is challenging to expose young people growing up in rural Australia to the things that city kids take for granted. Sporting and cultural events, the ethnic diversity of Australia and the opportunities for future study and employment.
It’s more like a community engagement than a business transaction.
Positive - Plenty of work. Negative Lack of decent housing for staff. Lack of other services make it hard to attract staff.
Question 10 asked what respondents like about their town, in four sub-questions. The first sub-question asked what respondents liked about living in their town. The Committee received 2,027 responses to this question, with many giving an answer related to ‘community’. Responses included:
Community connectedness, rural aspect, lifestyle choice to live simply and off-grid.
Feels safe and welcoming. Great food, wine and music.
The natural environment and friendly community. Also the cultural events are quite good.
It’s natural beauty, the clean air and the lack of traffic.
Friendly and reliable people, most necessary services, vibrant cultural life.
Everything. Great climate, close to the beach, big enough that we have everything we need but small enough that I can live 5 minutes from work and 10 minutes from most family/friends.
The people, the community spirit, the way we are all similar even though we are different we are close enough to see how we are all the same.
Although the Committee heard about the positive aspects of living in the regions, survey respondents also pointed out that there are challenges to living, working and raising families. Lack of connectivity (communications and transport) and services are the main themes among the 2,006 responses. Some responses to this sub-question included:
Internet does not run at sufficient speeds, mobile phone coverage and quality of service is poor. No facilities for children/play equipment.
Housing shortage. Not enough people volunteer (for example ambulance). We need a doctor at our hospital.
People and systems slow to change, Lack of vision and implementation of long term policies by government at all levels. Lack of coordination across public sectors, complexity of dealing with commonwealth agencies, especially in relation to aged care and disability services, (not for myself but for others) poor commonwealth government IT systems.
The third part to question 10 asked participants what they would like to see happen in their town in the next decade, and a strong theme of revitalisation was put forward. Common answers were:
Improvements to public transport, including efficiency and affordability;
Release of land for residential developments, housing for the elderly;
Increased or expanded health services;
Population growth (and, conversely, that some populations stay at the same levels as they are currently);
Investment in local education;
Water security, renewable industries, environmental responsibility;
Investment in small or local businesses; and
Increased number of job opportunities.
Question 10 finally asked respondents for one good thing about their town that people may not know Responses painted a picture of the individual character of regional towns. Respondents were not asked to name their towns. Responses included:
We have a beautiful waterfall nearby.
It’s far more lovely in winter when there are no tourists here. The water is still warm enough to swim, and it's never really cold.
Fresh fruit and vegetables.
Has the best wool in Australia.
Artists and craftspeople.
How beautiful the Milky Way is. Our clear night skies are glorious.
The community pulls together in crisis.
One respondent noted that even the people of a town may not be aware of the value of it:
We have a very high ratio of PhD’s per capita…The science community knows this but our community as a whole does not. They don’t know their neighbour may be a world renowned scientist.
Question 11 asked respondents to identify what makes their community important to Australia. Agriculture, production and tourism were frequently cited. Other responses included:
My Community is called the Food Bowl of Victoria.
We are a community that is good at finding solutions to problems, we are an example to other small shires that are struggling to keep population and services in their regions.
Interesting intelligent people.
We are a major primary producing food agricultural region and have a long history of assisting new migrants to assimilate into Australia. We are one of the largest aboriginal and multicultural communities in regional Australia.
We grow a lot of grain and export mining resources. We also provide a beautiful landscape for tourists.
Question 12 asked what the Committee should look at. A range of responses were received, but commonly identified aspects included connectivity and services are high on the agenda, as are water supply, environment/climate change and social issues such as drug use.
The final question asked whether respondents would be interested in receiving updates, and more than 1,098 respondents indicated their interest.
Second Survey – Metropolitan Views
A second survey was launched on 28 August 2020 and consisted of 12 questions designed to gain the views of people who live and work in Australia’s metropolitan centres.
Stakeholders were notified of the survey by email and the survey was also promoted via Facebook.
The second survey closed on 21 November 2020 and received 706 responses.
Summary of results
The first survey question related to the age of the respondent.
Just over half of respondents (53.51%) were aged 46 years or older. The breakdown by age is as follows:
Question 2 asked if respondents lived in a metropolitan area of Australia. 84.2% of respondents identified themselves as living in a metropolitan area. Respondents that did not live in a metropolitan area (15.8%) were not asked further questions.
Question 3 asked for the length of time respondents had lived in a metropolitan area. The breakdown of responses is as follows:
10 years or longer – 82.6 %
Question 4 asked respondents to best describe their employment, based on suggested categories. The breakdown of responses is as follows:
Not working / retired – 18.2 %
Self-employed / business owner – 12.2 %
Other (please specify) – 10.4 %
Responses of ‘Other’ included those that could be included in the above categories. These include Education and the Private sector (additional 2.4% each), Not working / retired (1.6%) and self-employed (0.5%). The not-for-profit / community sector comprised the majority, accounting for 3% of all responses.
The remaining questions concerned the considerations involved in moving outside of metropolitan areas to live and work.
Question 5 asked if respondents had considered moving out of a metropolitan area to live and work. Over three-quarters (77.6%) responded that they had considered moving to a regional, rural or remote area. Those respondents who answered ‘No’ (22.4%) were directed to Question 9.
Question 6 was directed only to those who answered ‘Yes’ to Question 5. Respondents were asked to indicate where they would consider moving, and could select more than one of the given options. The breakdown of the 435 responses is as follows:
Regional town or village –296 responses
Regional city – 283 responses
Rural area – 154 responses
Remote area – 48 responses
Question 7 asked respondents how far from a capital city they would consider living. The breakdown of the 436 responses is as follows:
More than approximately three hours’ drive – 33.3%
Around three hours’ drive or less – 32.1%
Around two hours’ drive or less – 28.2%
Around one hour’s drive or less – 6.4%
Question 8 asked respondents how far from a regional city they would consider living. The breakdown of the 433 responses is as follows:
Around one hour’s drive or less – 75.5%
Around two hours’ drive or less – 15.2%
More than approximately three hours’ drive – 5.1%
Around three hours’ drive or less – 4.2%
Question 9 asked if respondents’ view of living in regional, rural or remote Australia had changed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. This question was responded to by 463 participants, with (64.2%) answering ‘No’ and (35.9%) answering ‘Yes’.
Respondents were also asked why their view had (or hadn’t) changed, which attracted 266 free-text responses. The increased use and acceptance of remote working was a common consideration of respondents. Many respondents stated that their view hadn’t changed as they were already considering a more to regional Australia, while others stated that they preferred living in cities. Some responses included:
I think those of us in the city have looked longingly at the freedom and simplicity of regional areas; the lack of proper healthcare outside the capital cities however has been thrown into tragically sharp focus.
The regional areas are a lot safer it seems. The only problem is a big lack of services like internet and medicine.
I have absolutely no desire to live in regional towns, transport is not efficient enough to allow me to enjoy football and live music, and infrastructure is too poor for anything else.
I enjoy space... outdoor environments, quieter space.. smaller communities with a mixed choice of population... a growing community provides better interaction .. living off the land is a healthier wiser choice , having a balance of regional life & security of having access to major city is essential... access to train travel is important. & for expanding ground growth.
Work from home requirements have made the regional move even more a possibility.
Just reinforced the reasons to move already considered.
I have lived in a regional area in the past and would do so again if public transport connections to regional cities were more frequent.
View that it would disenfranchise my options in running a business. Highlight how it is significantly harder, therefore disadvantaged, to consider living in regional areas.
Question 10 required respondents to rank the following priorities in order of importance, first being the most important. This question received 466 responses.
Work/life balance – 28.3% of first preferences.
Employment opportunities – 25.5% of first preferences.
Access to services – 14.8% of first preferences.
20.8% of respondents ranked this item 2nd.
Access to nature – 11.6% of first preferences.
20.8% of respondents ranked this item 4th.
Strong community – 9.2% of first preferences.
22.5% of respondents ranked this item 4th.
Larger block sizes – 5.2% of first preferences.
31.8% of respondents ranked this item 7th.
Less crowded township – 5.4% of first preferences.
29.2% of respondents ranked this item 6th.
Following on from the previous question, Question 11 asked respondents to rank considerations from most to least important in the context of deciding where to live. This question received 466 responses.
Job security – 42.1% of first preferences.
Access to services – 16.3% of first preferences.
24% of respondents ranked this item 2nd.
Connectivity (digital) – 12% of first preferences.
27% of respondents ranked this item 3rd.
House and land prices – 19.3% of first preferences.
28.3% of respondents ranked this item 5th.
Connectivity (infrastructure) – 10.3% of first preferences.
27.5% of respondents ranked this item 3rd.
Question 12 invited respondents to provide reasons they would not move to a regional, rural or remote area of Australia. Issues that featured prominently in the 365 free text responses included a lack of services, work/employment, distance/isolation, entertainment, family and connectivity. Some responses included:
Access to nature and accessible housing are unfortunately not enough to overcome the lack of services - healthcare, most of all, but also proper schools and shopping districts; the variety and energy of the cities is hard to imitate elsewhere.
Distance from friends and family would definitely be a strong reason.
Can't afford to, lack of access to transport, lack of access to family and friends and lack of access to certain services and infrastructure.
I want to move but it’s knowing I can move somewhere there is work to afford a mortgage and living.
The area must cater for my complete family... if uprooting the family is worthy to their needs, it makes the move worth taking.. gradual change options and improvements are necessary.
Isolation and lack of connectivity with arts and culture.
I love the idea of closer living, and the big thriving metropolis, however this may be a young person's attitude, still full of excitement!
The appalling state of the NBN in rural areas - the first thing we do is contact local providers to get realist speeds. Shockingly slow, we could not work there.
Worried I might not meet new people - fit in.