But in the past 30 years, it seems the reverse has been happening with centralising of services, ‘efficiency’ amalgamations of schools, cutbacks in TAFE and regional universities and passenger rail and a declining, aging population in rural towns.

A first step in decentralisation would appear to be to halt centralisation and reinstate, or create, services and infrastructure that will support a growth in population and encourage people to move to the region.

A new paper by Steve Bracks and Pat McNamara, ‘Victoria’s Future: Why Decentralisation Should Be Our Priority’ for Balance Victoria, states decentralisation by just moving people into jobs in regional areas cannot work without the corresponding infrastructure and services expected by people moving from the city.

The decentralisation option they suggest would ‘link new compact, sustainably designed regional settlements beyond the metropolitan fringe to high productivity CBD and mid-suburban locations via fast rail’.

This would need targets and a serious long-term commitment to decentralisation, with the critical challenge to provide proximity between jobs, services and housing. They push for a fast rail service (about 300km/h) to destinations all over the state that would see Horsham within reach of Melbourne in 60 to 70 minutes.

Wimmera Development Association executive director Ralph Kenyon is a keen advocate of decentralisation but said fast rail would mainly be for the benefit of government and businesses that still carried out their main function in Melbourne.

“Having the infrastructure in place would be a positive that supports a more decentralised workforce but there needs to be a commitment to have localised service delivery at the same time as improved transport infrastructure,” Mr Kenyon said.

He said government policies to localise government services would also help in the decentralising process, as would the return of regular passenger trains that offered timetables to suit to and from work timetables.

Transport infrastructure was vital but there also needed to be improvements in telecommunications, health, education and community sectors to build local regional capacity to cater for a larger population. Plus there was a need for private sector investment in manufacturing, housing and building.

“The Wimmera Southern Mallee has significant idle assets that could be used to help support the decentralisation of a number of public sector agencies that in the past operated within the area,” he said. 

“Decentralisation would mean that these assets could be used as a base to provide additional jobs to the region.

“We also have several examples where industry has recruited migrant labour to fill local vacancies and expansion of business opportunities using migrant labour is a potential way forward to limit the local population decline. These examples include Luv a Duck at Nhill, Australian Wildflowers at Laharum and the impending development of horticultural industry with Nectar Farms at Bulgana.”

He sees the first steps to commitment to decentralisation as identifying the infrastructure and policy obstacles hindering the way forward.

He suggested there could be tax concessions for people living in regional areas, incentives for services and businesses to relocate, and a collaborative effort across all tiers of government to encourage people to move to regional areas.

He said the region was suffering from population decline and if this was allowed to continue without effort and action being put into attracting and retaining businesses and government services, then the decline would continue.

“We need to act now to arrest the flow. Decentralisation is part of the answer to creating and maintaining a viable community and could be built into local regional planning scenarios,” Mr Kenyon said.

Horsham council’s chief executive Sunil Bhalla is keen to attract more people to Horsham and sees it as part of a long-term development plan that will attract co-ordinated funding for infrastructure. He said council had been advocating for western rail to Horsham and Hamilton because transport infrastructure would make it easier for people to live and commute in the region.

He said the good thing about regional cities including Horsham was they had spare capacity in residential and commercial land supply, a need for more professionals, and a lot of potential for growth. He said Horsham had a lot to offer but incentives from governments such as tax or relocation assistance always helped.

He felt the restoration of passenger rail services would go a long way towards making Horsham more accessible to more people.

Business Horsham presented its research and views on decentralisation at a Population Policy Taskforce Forum in Horsham. Its findings showed similar issues and concerns as outlined by Mr Kenyon and Mr Bhalla.

Fast, reliable train transport, more medical services, more higher education facilities including Tafe and university, a broader economic base than agriculture and a commitment to action by governments at all levels, plus businesses and individuals, were needed to stave off the ‘laissez faire’ attitude that would see Horsham continue to decline.

Business Horsham’s Brian Watts said government borrowing and funding was at 1.5 per cent rate which was about the same rate as inflation. This meant that the real cost of borrowing was zero so if those borrowings were invested in services and infrastructure that provided a long term benefit, they would pay for themselves.    

Rail was a classic example as it would pay back for 100 plus years. Governments needed to invest in rural areas to attract people and industry, which would create more jobs and business development via the multiplier process.

However, Business Horsham’s report stated, the reverse of this had been happening and would continue to create decline if left to the natural market forces. 

“Horsham is the growth centre of the Wimmera; if we don’t grow Horsham, the whole of the Wimmera will decline,” the report stated.

“We need all the assistance we can muster in light of the current economic forces at work.”