Mr Kennett lost the state election in 1999 partly because he largely ignored the needs of regional Victoria in terms of the investment it needed, socially and economically.

However, it now appears he has had something of an epiphany thanks to his role as chairman of beyondblue.

Writing in yesterday’s Herald Sun, Mr Kennett recounted a trip he made to Lismore last week to meet the locals who have been hit hard by suicide and depression.

Mr Kennett said he was moved by the stories told to him by ageing, lonely farmers struggling with mortgages and workloads on their properties and having no one to turn to. He noted that Australia was suffering a rural crisis of “unmatched social cost and hardship’’.

Echoing the views of those in the bush who have been saying the very same thing for a long time, Mr Kennett said Australia must deal with the despair being faced by farmers and the economic issues in diminished rural towns.

According to Mr Kennett, decentralisation of government services is the key. 

He said there was no need for most government agencies to be based in the city and cited the shifting of the TAC’s headquarters from Melbourne to Geelong as an example. 

Education could be moved to Ballarat, he said, civic compliance to Warrnambool, health to Bendigo and so on.

He is absolutely right, but it is much easier to say it than to do it as Mr Kennett must surely know, otherwise he would have done it when in power.

Warrnambool and the south-west (Lismore included) would benefit enormously if a government department was set up here, but will it ever happen?

The last time Victoria had a government that truly supported decentralisation was under Rupert Hamer.

Since then, government has been city-centric in the extreme and Mr Kennett is partly to blame. So although we agree with Mr Kennett’s vision, history dictates we should only believe it when we see it.