You’re a friendly bunch: what we’ve learned from the ‘God’s Country’ series

This series of stories about people who have moved to the New England was to allow us to see our communities through fresh eyes.

If you’ve never left the New England, it’s difficult to appreciate how special it is. Even for someone like me, who you’d probably call more of a yo-yo than a boomerang, it is challenging to understand how these places that I have known my entire life look to someone who has never known them.

Not as bad as we often think

There were some things we expected. Access to rental housing was certainly a noted issue in some areas, but it wasn’t so bad in others. Our new locals also reported it was surprisingly affordable and easy to buy a home, which we didn’t expect.

Some mentioned it being very difficult to get into a doctor, while others said they had no issue, which indicates the problem is perhaps not as widespread as it seems at times.

A number mentioned affordability, with high cost of flights to Sydney noted as a negative in the economic assessment, but the lower cost of most things and free events is definitely. The win of gaining time to enjoy their life was also noted by a number of people who are very happily enjoying their hobbies, sport, and other recreation.

Probably one of the biggest surprises is that most were happy with the services and shops available, ‘got everything you need’ being a very common comment. It’s possible that they just haven’t experienced not being able to get something yet, or perhaps our local business sector is healthier than we think.

Also we didn’t expect there to be so many Lismore refugees who had escaped the flooding for higher ground. We included two in the series, but we were contacted by dozens more. I have put on the to-do list to dig into that a bit more: we welcome provide a lot of support for refugees from other countries, it’s not clear that we are providing enough support to our internal refugees.

Friendly people (almost) everywhere

The overwhelming consensus of everyone that we spoke to – both the included personal stories and others – is that New Englanders are very friendly people. We say hello, we will make eye contact with strangers, and help where we can. That behaviour is not just friendly, it requires a level of confidence that is clearly infused throughout the region. The extent to which people felt welcomed and embraced by community – and the speed at which the felt like they belonged – was clearly surprising to a number of our newcomers. And is something we should be proud of.

Cliques are a part of the fabric of most regional communities and can make extraordinary difference to the experience of new people. Interestingly, most our new residents denied significant evidence of cliques, and those who had lived regionally before expected it to be a bigger factor in their transition and it just wasn’t something they encountered.

Armidale has a problem

Except in Armidale. The three new residents we spoke to in Armidale all said people were friendly, but they hadn’t made a lot of friends. Armidale’s cliques have always been intense – I have written before that it is the city’s greatest asset and it’s biggest downfall.

It’s an asset because the cliquiness makes the niche communities within Armidale very successful, providing the strong art, culture, and music scenes people don’t generally expect in rural areas; it’s a downfall because that cliquiness also creates an environment that allows for exclusion and division.

The cliquiness of Armidale’s community fuels toxicity in larger workplaces, such as Armidale regional Council, UNE, and the APVMA who have all had significant culture reviews, which doesn’t seem to be an issue in Boss, Bindaree, or Whitehaven, being the three major employers touched on in this series.

It may also be evident in the poor behaviour of Armidale’s councillors towards each other, and is pretty obvious in Mayor Sam Coupland’s recent statement at a campaign event about wanting his ‘Vote 1 Growth’ ticket of so-called Independents to win 5 seats so he can hold a majority – reducing Armidale Regional Council from a deliberative democratic body to a choice of being on Team Sam… or not.

Cliquiness can also lead to significant isolation and loneliness, which – as you might expect – leads to people leaving town.

Hard numbers and empty rhetoric

Coupland has made much since before he was elected the first time of his grand plan to create 4000 jobs by 2040, and that’s going to bring in 10,000 more people. His campaign pitch was then translated directly into Council policy.

“Armidale Regional Council has set a bold and ambitious aspirational target to grow jobs in our region by 4000 by 2040 and generate at 1000 new jobs over the next five years,” the ARC website reads.

Here’s the thing: these empty and randomly round numbers plucked out the sky might sound impressive, but it would actually require an economic slow down in Armidale.

According to Council’s website, the number of jobs in Armidale increased by 980 in the five years to 2021. Going directly to the data provided by id.com.au, the number of jobs in Armidale grew 1383 in the five years from 2018 to 2023. So, to achieve Coupland’s goal of 1000 jobs created from 2022 to 2027, or from 2024 to 2029 (the goal doesn’t seem to shift with the year…), you don’t need a fancy plan, slogan, rates hike, or controversial tourism projects, just do absolutely nothing.

But, to get the population to actually grow, you have to make it a place people want to stay. Armidale’s population has barely moved in the five years from 2018-2023 – the Australia Bureau of Statistics estimated it at 29,631 in 2018, and 29,594 in 2023.

1383 more jobs, 37 less people.

Is the assumption that more jobs equal more people wrong? Possibly.

Are all the extra people across the border in the Uralla LGA? Perhaps.

Are the numbers wrong? Probably. Tingha was moved from Armidale to Inverell in 2019, which can account for some of the flatness, and the pace of building in Armidale would indicate there’s something not right in the population figures.

Are we counting some jobs as being ‘in Armidale’ when they’re fully remote and the person in the job is not here? Yes. And if the onsite environment is toxic and town not welcoming then leaving town and going remote will be increasingly attractive.

Armidale has some work to do to be more welcoming and break down the barriers, and can learn from Glen Innes’ successful Attract-Connect-Stay program, the new resident welcome events run in Tamworth, and other initiatives – particularly the ones driven by community, not council.

A new state government project, called The Welcome Experience, which is very similar to the Glen Innes Attract-Connect-Stay-Program, will be rolled out in a number of centres soon, including Armidale. However, the individual concierge approach helping people get settled will not ameliorate Armidale’s problematic community dynamics.

Are we asking the right question?

When we were asking for volunteers for this series, some in Glen Innes advocated that we should ask people who have been around for a few years, and find out why they stayed, as getting people to stay is much harder than getting them to come. They might be right.

Certainly on the surface, all the reasons to move here are there: but the combination of increasing jobs but stagnant population figures in some centres indicate there’s something else going on researchers and leaders need to look into.

Thank you to everyone that shared their stories for this series.