Moree mentoring attracts interest - congratulations to Peter Strang

Back in June I wrote a short post on the work of Dick Estens and his colleagues in creating employment opportunities for Moree's Aboriginal young.

I see from an article in the Moree Champion that this work has continued. My congratulations to Peter Strang for receiving the initial AES award for his work in Moree's mentoring program.

I think personally that this type of action is very important. Whatever the issues and approaches may be at state or national level, action at local level to improve opportunities for New England's Aboriginal kids is critical. Without this, other things will fall over.

Rental Stress in New England

I was disturbed but not surprised to learn that the top three, and four of the top ten, electorates in NSW suffering rental stress were in New England. Rental stress is defined as paying more than 30 per cent of gross income in rentals.

The top ten expressed as a proportion of the population suffering rental stress are:

• Richmond 57.5%
• Cowper 51.5%
• Lyne 50%
• Blaxland 48.7%
• Watson 47.6%
• Gilmore 47.1%
• Dobell 46.9%
• Fowler 46.6%
• Shortland 46%
• Robertson 44.4%

Lismore's CBD feels the pinch of dollar drain

Interesting story in the Lismore Northern Star about the challenges facing retailers in the Lismore CBD where retail sales are down. Part of the problem is apparently due to a revamped Lismore Shopping Square, but Lismore also faces a broader problem.

According to Lismore Unlimited president Phil Hanlon. Lismore shopper dollars are being lured away from its CBD not just by a revamped Lismore Shopping Square, but to a Gold Coast made more accessible by improved roads. “You can be at Robina or Pacific Fair in an hour and a half and shop all weekend – you can’t shop in Lismore all weekend,” he said.

Mr Hanlon suggests that the dollar drain was more dramatic than most people realised, estimating between $200 million and $300 million crossing the NSW/Queensland border from the Northern Rivers each year.

Pressure on Lismore has also also came from the coast where, over the past few years, retail business between Lennox Head and Byron Bay had doubled.

Lismore is fighting back, trying to reach the 750,000 people living just over the border in Queensland. But it's not easy.

I found the story interesting in its own right, but also because it illustrates some of the changes taking place in New England, changes that help explain New England's relatively poor economic performance together with the decline in its sense of self-identity.

Our problem is that New England is squeezed, cannibalised, between the growing Sydney and Brisbane conurbations.

In an earlier story I spoke of the way in which Newcastle in the south was now being treated by the Sydney Government as simply another part Greater Sydney. This story shows the fragmentation process in the north.

Like Mr Hanlon, when I was chair of Tourism Armidale I used to talk about the opportunities offered by the big population concentrations to the north and south of Armidale. But it's very hard to do anything meaningful to fight back when everything has to be done at an increasingly fragmented local level.

Guyra - the Birds of Bradley Street

Photo: The Birds of Bradley Street

I have just done an update on the Regional Living Australia blog on an earlier story I ran on the Birds of Bradley Street, a rather remarkable group of women including tree changers who between them have transformed the Northern Tableland's town of Guyra.

The update and earlier story (link included in update) are worth reading as an example of the way in which local activism can have positive effects to the benefit of the entire community.

New England's Aborigines - Moree Success Story

Photo: Message from Moree, ABC TV

Earlier this week ABC TV had an inspirational short piece on the work of Dick Estens. This followed an earlier ABC documentary, Message from Moree.

The western New England town of Moree is the centre of a rich agricultural district. At least 17 per cent of the population of Moree Plains Shire is Aborginal.

There have been strong past divides between Europeans and Aborigines in Moree, with high Aboriginal unemployment (up to 65 per cent) and limited opportunities creating a viscious cycle of social deprivation.

Dick Estens, a local cotton grower, believed that the only way to overcome racial divides and Aboriginal social deprivation was by finding Aboriginal people jobs. Seven years ago he launched Aboriginal Employment Services in the face of great scepticism from both sides of the racial divide. Both the documentary and the later follow up story trace the outstanding success of Esten's work.