The regional imperative might not have been so obvious before.

But it now sits like a neon sign plonked in front of our collective faces.

The virus has exposed our vulnerabilities. But for those thinking about the future, there is a waft of something good about it. They smell opportunity.

When we get to the "other side", it is opportunity that will greet us when we knock like a big tube of gap filler. The smart thinkers are using now to plan for then. They are looking at the gaps and wondering how to fill them.

Already, many of these needs will be obvious to the federal and state governments. That list will keep growing and it will go beyond facemasks and ventilators.

Regional Australia can host so much of the potential - and far beyond the agriculture sector, which is one of few holding its own during this crisis. Farmers always think about the future.

In the manufacturing exodus from Australia, trades and skills also left our shores. We need them back.

Let's not think this will be the last time we have to deal with "germ warfare".

For all its awfulness, the coronavirus may just be the tonic we need to awake from our island slumber.

There are billions of dollars being pumped into our economy to make sure we still have an economy.

As a nation, we are extraordinary. Our science, research and medical community is world's best and proving so right now.

They will come up with answers. Other industries need to as well. And they will. They must.

By invitation, I recently returned to the board of Regional Capitals Australia, an organisation which as mayor of the City of Ballarat, I chaired until last October.

This opportunity to represent Ballarat our neighbouring local government areas and indeed rural Australia will ensure that the RCA voice is heard above the cacophony of others calling out for help and direction.

My message will be that the regions are vital places of reform - with capacity, agility and desire.

Do we sit on the cusp of collapse or creation? Quite clearly - we can do anything if we put our minds to it.

So, let's put our minds to it.

Cr Samantha McIntosh is a Ballarat councillor