Cr Peter Bailey calls for a Regional Marketing Fund to promote rural lifestyle

This fund is not a new idea, Victoria ran one successfully for more than a decade, and at its November 2018 monthly meeting Armidale Regional Council resolved to call on the NSW Government to establish one .

Letters were written to the Minister for Local Government and the Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall. The NSW city of Orange withdrew from Evocities last week, citing lack of transparency issues very similar to Armidale's when it pulled out in May.

"I have been proposing a Regional Marketing Fund from long before I was on council," Cr Bailey said.

"It should be a State-wide marketing campaign on the virtues of living, working investing and relocating out of Sydney.

"Our proposal was that it would be a fund set up by the State Government and administered by a representative group of various councils."

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Cr Bailey said governing councils could be from two regional cities, two from the provincial centres (with 10,000-25,000 populations) and two from the smaller country communities with populations under 10,000 to maintain fairness and equity through the program.

He said the fact that regional Australia was a place of opportunity was proven to him a decade ago.

"I don't think there is any trouble getting employment, sometimes its to do with you skill set, but by and large, I think there are jobs around," he said.

"We're proposing to take this to the Local Government Conference in Sydney during October, and for them to take it forward to the State Government.

"I've had preliminary discussions with Adam Marshall and the deputy Premier about it, and both of them are interested."