COUNCILS across Victoria have supported a new Buloke Shire Council campaign to establish minimum service levels in rural areas.
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Horsham Rural City is one of eight councils that have joined the Rural Living campaign.
Councils met via teleconference on Friday to discuss ways to contribute to and boost the campaign’s reach.
It comes after Buloke council presented a proposal at the Municipal Association of Victoria state council meeting in Melbourne earlier this month, where 84 per cent of members voted in favour of supporting the initiative.
Buloke Shire Mayor Reid Mather said the campaign’s goal was to seek agreement from state and federal governments that all Victorians, including residents in small rural shires, were worthy of a specific minimum set of service levels.
He said council was thrilled with the level of support so far, including through the group’s social media channels.
‘‘For every council that joins the campaign, we are a step closer to achieving our goals as a united front,’’ Cr Mather said.
‘‘We are getting fantastic support from people living in rural communities, because they are the ones who are missing out on essential services such as youth, library, childcare and community transport – services their city counterparts take for granted.
‘‘Our focus is on building this support so word about these inequalities reaches city people, then filters through to the top levels of government.’’
Cr Mather said inadequacies between services in city and country areas were getting worse.
He said the campaign also aimed to encourage people to consider moving to regional areas to drive the productivity and growth of vital agricultural and rural industries.
‘‘We’re experiencing resurgence in our rural communities right now and there are opportunities for the taking,’’ he said.
‘‘For example, Wycheproof has just opened a new butcher, a bakery will open soon and the hardware store has just reopened.
‘‘Rural Living is not a ‘poor me’ campaign – it is about making sure we can offer a sustainable and basic level of services so that people want to stay, invest and become part of the many beautiful regional areas of Victoria.’’
Cr Mather said people could visit facebook.com/RuralLivingVictoria for more information.