Good news travels fast, but press releases about good news travel even faster.
On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its annual report on Regional Population Growth.
It listed the growth rate of all local government areas across the country to June last year.
The results were good news for Bendigo, which recorded a growth rate of two per cent for the 2005-06 financial year, the second highest in inland Australia.
As this information was picked up by staffers at all levels of government, the credit started rolling in.
The City of Greater Bendigo was quick off the mark, claiming ‘strategic policy frameworks’ were one of the reasons people choose to come to Bendigo.
My wife last night laughed this off saying: "You didn’t even look at the council’s policies before we moved to Bendigo, so there isn’t much chance anyone else did".
The state government also reacted quickly to the increase.
"It is due in no small part to the determination of the Bracks Government to drive population and business growth across the state," Regional and Rural Development minister John Brumby said.
"We have worked hard to get the economic fundamentals right and as a result conditions in provincial Victoria is (sic) able to withstand the pressures of drought and bushfire.
"Government initiatives – to inspire people to work and invest in provincial Victoria and to equip local councils to capitalise on the resultant interest – are creating a prosperous and growing rural and regional Victoria."
However, perhaps the growth was down to the federal government, as this press release from the local Liberal Party claimed:
A decade of strong economic leadership by the Howard Government had helped position Bendigo and central Victoria as the 21st-century regional capital of Australia, Liberal candidate for Bendigo Peter Kennedy said today.
Mr Kennedy said new ABS population growth data showed the region continued to be a major winner from the policies of the Coalition Government.
"The latest population figures put Bendigo within a quick breath of breaking through 100,000," Mr Kennedy said.
"We have many more people employed in the manufacturing and telecommunications sector than a decade ago and business continues to see Bendigo and central Victoria as the region of choice for investment.
"An extra 95,855 people in Bendigo, a similar percentage rise in Macedon Ranges Shire plus modest gains in Central Goldfields and Mount Alexander Shires underscore the rapidly increasing importance of our region with people sharing our vision and contributing to the inspiration of the communities."
Mr Kennedy said well-planned infrastructure projects were vital to the region’s continued sharing of the benefits of the Coalition Government’s economic leadership.
For those of you who don’t know, I came to Bendigo from Australia’s largest city – Sydney.
Why did I make the move? One word – family. I was looking for a safe place for my kids to grow up and for a real community to live in and flourish under.
I can say I have found both in Eaglehawk where I live and Bendigo where I work.
Did any government policy make me move here? No. Did I check out the political or policy situation before I moved? No.
If you weren’t born here, why did you move to Bendigo?
