Once again the peculiarities attached to the Border’s one community yet two states reality have come to the fore.
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It is a topic that has been addressed countless times in The Border Mail, especially where the situation creates headaches.
Border anomalies are constantly in the way of ordinary people in Albury-Wodonga in so many ways, whether that be issues related to regulations for new drivers to the regulatory issues confronted by business.
It was why we supported the pledge earlier this year by Victoria’s Coalition to establish a cross-border commissioner should they win government, though the downside of that is it wouldn’t be based in the largest community along the Murray River.
Nevertheless, the move would surely help communities such as Albury-Wodonga greatly given there is already a similar role in NSW. And as was stated in these columns at the time, such anomalies are raised year-in, year-out, but are certainly made more difficult to resolve because of the distance between the two state Parliaments.
Adding further to the issue of how the state boundary affects Albury-Wodonga has arisen again, with Albury’s mayor, Kevin Mack, entering the debate.
At first it might seem odd, but the sense can then easily be discerned in what Cr Mack is saying, which is that Border businesses should not see the border as an impediment to making the most of incentives provided by the respective state governments.
What was signficant in Cr Mack’s comments was that he took this further than anyone might have envisaged. Put simply, he said, if an incentive from the Victorian government suited a business on the NSW side of the border then it would be a sensible decision to relocate south of the Murray River – provided, of course, that all the other numbers stacked-up financially.
As Cr Mack said, the two cities but one community approach was what worked best for the Border.
“The beauty of this system,” he said ahead of the Riverina Regional Cities Forum between Griffith, Wagga and Albury representatives, “is if the Victorian government is offering incentives with the payroll tax cuts, then push them to Victoria – at least they’re still employing employing Albury people.”
Progress on dealing with these anomalies will always be glacial, so such thinking can only serve to bring more immediate benefits to our community.
