The eternal struggle?

BENJAMIN Franklin famously mused that life’s only certainties are death and taxes, but should a lack of rental properties, and long waits for medical appointments, be added to the list for regional South Australian residents?

Inside today’s edition of the Pioneer we see a number of examples where, despite all the luxuries the modern world affords, it seems that some key challenges are failing to be addressed when it comes to living in areas outside the metropolitan centres.

Difficulties in attracting, and retaining key health sector workers to the region’s hospitals must rank high on this list.

This is something we see having clear, and ongoing impacts across the Riverland. In Waikerie, birthing services remain suspended, heading close to the five-year mark, and the Waikerie Medical Centre’s uphill battles to ensure adequate services are provided to the community with a severely limited number of doctors had earlier this year been well documented.

This might just be the proverbial tip of the iceberg where problems in healthcare access are concerned. As can be seen in metropolitan Adelaide, systemic cracks in the health system call all-too quickly develop into long-term problems that are seemingly unable to be resolved by the State Government. October ramping hours in Adelaide still hit a total of 3948 – more than three years after Peter Malinauskas made the election claim Labor would fix the problem – although it must also be noted this was the lowest figure in six months.

However, one of the root causes of the staffing issues in accommodation availability, would hardly be isolated to the health sphere.
It’s likely most Riverlanders over the age of 18 would know someone who has had their working and/or living circumstances in the region impacted by an almost crippling difficulty in locating available rental properties.

While squeezing as many townhouses into the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide suburbs appears to be the current approach being taken in alleviating the nation’s housing crisis, is this coming at a sacrifice to the long-term sustainability of countless regional communities?

As evidenced by the Covid period there is hardly a shortage of people seeking to relocate to country areas, many of whom have the professional skills so many of our businesses, and vital services are crying out for, but without opportunities at stable accommodation the thought of moving to a place like the Riverland – and adding to the local community – becomes a lot less viable.

It would appear stronger questions regarding the State Government’s awareness of regional issues need to be asked heading into March.