A Liveable Regional Victoria
Regional Victoria - a great place to live
The Blueprint gives high priority to maintaining and enhancing the liveability of regional cities, towns and communities, retaining their character and improving their access to services. The Blueprint builds on existing Victorian Government investment in these areas, with an emphasis on developing new social, educational, recreational and cultural services and facilities.
Retaining and attracting young people
The Blueprint adopts a strong focus on retaining and attracting young people, reflecting the findings of the 2006 inquiry by the Victorian Parliament into Retaining Young People in Regional and Rural Towns and Communities, which found that many young people who grow up in rural communities would like to stay if they were provided with more choices and opportunities.
The inquiry also found that more young people were likely to return to regional areas if they felt supported and valued in their local communities.
Research conducted by the Victorian Government in 2009 identified good quality higher education and job opportunities, leisure and cultural opportunities, and participation in decision-making as motives for young people to remain in and move to regional Victoria.
The Government is making retaining and attracting young people to regional Victoria a priority and is adopting initiatives to boost the numbers of young people living in regional areas in the future. This includes working with local councils and businesses to provide support, services and opportunities for young people in regional communities, as well as strategies to attract young adults to move to regional Victoria for a better quality of life or to raise their families.
Healthy communities
Through Rural directions - for a stronger healthier Victoria (released in October 2009), the Victorian Government is working to provide a quality rural health system that delivers the right support in the right place, and that meets the changing health care needs of people living in regional Victoria.
Rural directions aims provide high-volume, low-complexity services as close to people's homes as possible, while concentrating low-volume, high-complexity services in key locations to ensure service quality - and using more innovative and flexible models to sustain a high standard of health care across all regions.
Shared use of community facilities (building on the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's Schools as Community Facilities policy) is being encouraged to maximise the value of these facilities in small and medium-sized towns.
Keeping regional communities healthy and active in the years ahead requires long term investment in social infrastructure, community development and skills and education. It also requires new ways of thinking and planning to make services more flexible and accessible.
Strengthening communities
The Government continues to tackle entrenched disadvantage across Victoria. Initiatives delivered through the A Fairer Victoria policy have improved services for children, families, older Victorians and people with a disability, and created new opportunities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Working with the Commonwealth Government, the Victorian Government is delivering a substantial increase in housing in regional areas for people on low incomes through the Social Housing Initiative of the National Building and Jobs Plan.
The Government is giving priority to strengthening communities and reducing disadvantage across regional Victoria. In particular, the Government is supporting places on the 'frontline' of social, economic and environmental change to adapt to these changes while retaining their character, amenity and liveability.
For more details on the Shared Use of School Facilities please visit the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
For more information about Rural directions - for a stronger healthier Victoria please visit the Department of Health
Priority policy directions: Working together
Victoria has a new framework for regional strategic planning based on the principle that regional communities are best placed to identify their own priorities and plan for how they can address these priorities in the future.
The Government recognises that financial support is essential to ensuring the effectiveness of this new approach and to providing on-the-ground support for the implementation of Regional Plans.
How we are working together
The Blueprint for Regional Victoria sets out the longer term statewide plan for regional Victoria, including strategic directions and policy priorities in key areas.
Council representatives, Regional Development Australia Committees and Victorian Government departments forms the core membership of Regional Planning Committees, regions have flexibility to develop membership structures and planning processes that suit their local preferences and recognise existing local governance arrangements.
The alignment of all three levels of government to an agreed definition of regions through a new agreement between the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments will consolidate future regional policy development and improve the coordination of regional policies and programs between local, state and federal governments.
Regional partners determine the process for endorsing the plan within each region, noting that formal adoption may ultimately be required to enable councils' involvement in the implementation of specific initiatives.
A new 'single door entry' gives regions access to whole-of-government funding and/or partnership arrangements for complex or large scale initiatives that require a cross-departmental approach,
These arrangements deliver better collaboration and coordination within and between regions. The new framework also allows maximum flexibility for regions to develop and structure their internal planning processes and approaches towards local project development and greater community engagement.
Support for local councils
Local government has a vital role to play in delivering the Blueprint for Regional Victoria and making sure that communities are engaged in and aware of decisions affecting their future.
Local councils deliver many diverse programs and administer policies and regulations that influence regional planning and development. They also have the power to set their own regulations and laws, and to provide a range of discretionary services.
Across the state, local councils are leaders in many issues of significance to the future of regional Victoria, including responding to climate change, planning for sustainable development and supporting business expansion in emerging industries.
The Government acknowledges the critical role of local councils in regional development and recognises that councils need additional support to serve their communities in an era of ongoing change and growth.
Supporting leadership
Developing a pool of people with strategic leadership skills is a challenge for some regional areas due to resource constraints and relatively limited access to high quality leadership programs.
The Government continues to support activities that promote local leadership and encourage people with diverse backgrounds and experiences to take on leadership roles. Priority is also being given to encouraging the greater participation by young people in volunteering and in giving young people in regional areas more opportunities to have a say in the future direction of their communities and in services aimed at them.
