The state’s peak farming body says country communities need to be better equipped to deal with an increasing number of ‘tree changers’.
According to research commissioned by NewsCorp Australia, more than three million people living in capital cities intend to move to a rural or regional area to escape soaring rents and constant congestion.
While people in regional centres were welcoming, NSW Farmers Rural Affairs chair Deb Charlton said they were sometimes ill-equipped to handle an influx of new neighbours.
“When you look at our major centres like Wagga Wagga, Orange or Tamworth, they have health services and educational opportunities, but as you move out to smaller towns that’s where the gaps really appear,” Mrs Charlton said.
“Smaller towns are already crying out for essential infrastructure and the people to deliver those services, and without a deliberate effort to address these shortfalls we risk making things worse.
“We need to have good planning in place – not just for housing and where it goes – but in terms of how we’ll cater for millions of additional people in rural and regional towns.”
Mrs Charlton said the trend towards remote working, which was accelerated by the pandemic, opened up a number of opportunities for people who no longer needed to be in ‘the rat race’. But if decision makers failed to adequately prepare country communities, they risked repeating big city mistakes.
“Sydney grew in an ad-hoc fashion and now the government is spending billions of dollars trying to retrofit transport infrastructure and build new housing and schools to cope with all the people,” she said.
“I can see a similar situation happening with a city like Wagga Wagga – a big centre with plenty of potential – but without its own mass transit system and only a two-lane link to the Hume Highway.
“We need good planning in place to anticipate and keep up with demand so we can really unlock the great opportunities that exist for everyone outside of our major cities.”
