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https://theconversation.com/we-havent-built-it-and-theyve-come-the-e-change-pressures-on-australias-lifestyle-towns-188228>
"Michael and Karen moved from Melbourne to Castlemaine, about 130km northwest
of Victoria’s capital, in mid-2020 – using, like tens of thousands of
Australians, the shift to remote work to make a larger lifestyle change.
They sold the small two-room inner-urban apartment they had bought in 2018 and
bought a large three-bedroom home on a 1,200 square metre block in the historic
goldfields town (population about 10,000).
“There’s an orchard, an amazing garden for growing veggies, and a good shed out
the back,” enthuses Michael. “I have a room now for full-time remote work and a
third bedroom for the baby, which is on its way.” He plans to convert the shed
into a studio for Karen, an artist.
But not everything was easy. “The internet connection has been dropping in and
out, repeatedly and for large durations,” Michael says. “I’ve had to use my
phone’s 3G hotspot as a backup.”
We’ve tracked the experience of Michael and Karen along with 20 other
households in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland to better understand how
the influx of “e-changers” to “lifestyle towns” is affecting infrastructure and
social cohesion.
This demographic shift has long been predicted – facilitated by technology and
the population stresses in major cities. But the pandemic accelerated the
trend.
Slow internet speeds are just the tip of the infrastructure pressures being
placed on hundreds of towns within a few hours’ drive of cities – the sweet
spot for e-changers looking to combine city jobs with country town lifestyles.
Others include health and education services, water security and, most
urgently, housing availability and affordability.
Helen Haines, the independent federal member for the rural Victorian electorate
of Indi, has put it like this:
For a long time, when we talked about regional development, we said ‘build
it and they will come’. Well we haven’t built it and they’ve come.
It’s a challenge that will require cooperation between federal, state and local
policy makers to resolve."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
