Demographer says think globally, act locally

“Communities love talking about the big picture.”

That’s the opinion of demographer Bernard Salt who crisscrosses the Australian countryside talking to townspeople about making the most of their assets
and opportunities.

“I am an optimist,” he said. “And I am optimistic about the future of Australia and the interior west of the Great Divide.”

The future lies in utilising resources and taking a cohesive approach to global marketing, Mr Salt said.

“The world is going from 7 billion to 11 billion people. It means there is going to be a market for agribusiness production for 100 years.

“It will be ideal for Australia and the region of Orana and it will certainly be exciting to encourage entrepreneurship in agribusiness and looking
at ways of scaling agribusiness, of growing, marketing and packaging and aligning with businesses in Canada, the US and New Zealand.

“I would love Australian agribusiness to be as global and aggressive as international agribusiness.”

“A great challenge will be to retain and develop assets with ownership and management of the agribusiness process rather than selling assets.”

Mr Salt said the Orana region already has the greatest gift when it comes to community coherence.

“Dubbo is incredibly galvanised and united - that is an incredible asset to have.”

Coupled with that synchronicity is opportunity to reach greater heights of recognition.

“There is an opportunity and a need to have a centre of excellence to come out of the region and to raise the bar. Instead of being the best region,
we need to be thinking globally and that is where we see ourselves on a level playing field with all the infrastructure, research centres and support.”