Canberra's government has cut ties to the surrounding NSW region, slashing more than $100,000 from an ACT regional development organisation just weeks after the ministry vanished from the government front bench.
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Regional Development Australia ACT will lose a grant of $158,000 from next year and the portfolio for Regional Development was nowhere to be seen after chief minister Andrew Barr's recent reshuffle.
Up until November, Katy Gallagher had been the minister for regional development.
Mr Barr confirmed the funding had been cut from the end of this year and former chief minister Gallagher had informed minister Truss of this in October.
Regional Australia Institute chief executive officer Su McCluskey said if the cuts meant the government was pulling back from the region, it would be a real concern.
She said Canberra could benefit by tapping into the booming surrounding communities, describing the ACT as "an island surrounded by strong regional growth".
"We know from all the data and the work we have done that the surrounding regions of the ACT are some of the most competitive in the country," she said.
"The opportunity to leverage off this and think of the ACT as being part of the broader regions is very important and provides a great opportunity for the ACT. So for them to be putting less focus on that begs the question who they can leverage themselves when they're part of that broader region."
Regional Development ACT's latest Strategic Development Plan said it was important for the ACT to be a regional leader and focus on developing links with the nearly 700,000 people in the "greater regional" population.
It said as the geographic centre of south-east NSW, Canberra's future economic growth was "inexorably linked" to the development of the region.
Ms McCluskey said if the ACT helped grow the region's economy, Canberra would benefit. "There is so much more you can do with the power of the collective, rather than the powers of the individuals," she said.
But chief minister Andrew Barr said regional development remained an important part of his portfolio and he was committed to continue to work of Katy Gallagher in the area.
"The ACT has established strong ties with local councils in the Canberra region and I look forward to working on opportunities for further collaboration over the coming years," he said.
"Our funding of Regional Development Australia expires at the end of this year but the Regional Development Australia ACT committee continues to receive funding from the federal government and we intend to engage with them as a key stakeholder."
But opposition leader Jeremy Hanson said the government was sacrificing services to bring the budget back into balance.
"With Andrew Barr desperate to fix the damaging levels of debt and deficit he has created and to fund light rail, Canberrans can expect to see more of Katy Gallagher's agenda to cut to the bone," he said.
Regional Development Australia ACT was contacted but declined to comment.
