"And as my  grandmother used to say," interjects Louise, "One woman's rubbish is another woman's treasure."

Precisely. And the great thing about rubbish is that it's all about the only constant thing we have in our lives – change.

Think about rubbish tips themselves. We used to just call them "the tip" when I was a kid. They were usually on the outskirts of town gradually filling up an old quarry, or mine shafts in the case of my old hometown of Stawell.  If fact the one at Stawell used to be a gold mine and it still was to us kids who used to get into trouble for bringing more stuff home from the tip than Dad used to drop off. In the end he wouldn't let us out of the car.

But now they are a lot more than a "tip". They're "recycling centres" or "transfer stations"  or " resource recovery centres" or even "waste retrieval and redistribution depots".

Whatever the name, they create new value out of the unwanted and it's a trend that's spread far beyond the municipal tip. It's started to transform and regenerate whole cities and their economies.

Take Detroit for example.

Detroit was the largest case of municipal bankruptcy in the USA when it declared a financial emergency in 2013 with $18.5 billion in debt. After the shrinking of the local auto manufacturing industry, its population declined by 50%. Whole neighbourhoods disappeared and a third of the land in the city unoccupied with tens of thousands of abandoned properties, both small private homes and very large corporate and public buildings.

But Detroit refused to be the local tip.

Its future has been described as the transition from a big motor town to a small art town. And it's well underway.

Artists, writers and non-profit enterprises have been attracted to Detroit by cheap land and housing, low taxes and lack of red tape. Incentives have been established for start ups and they are working.  New companies are being established and some longer-standing businesses and industries have begun to relocate there.

In June last year new mayor Mike Duggan launched an "Innovation District" in the centre of the city. It is already attracting creative industries such as film makers, ad agencies, digital media companies, marketing companies, designers and architects.

I've written before how important local government can be.

Three new casinos and sports stadiums have also been built as part of a riverfront revitalisation project.

With all of these initiatives, the city is turning the corner as it transforms itself from junkyard to art-house.  As a result, it exited bankruptcy last year and its 700,000 strong population, down from the 2-million peak in 1950, is showing how to make change something to be welcomed and not feared.

And we have our own examples here.

After the departure of manufacturing and coal, Wollongong repositioned itself as a start up hub, focused around the university. It also promoted itself as a tourist destination just a short distance from Sydney with peaceful coastal villages, fine food and wine and exciting water sports. Similarly, Newcastle has focused on the arts, urban renewal, festivals, farmers markets and excellent local produce.

So the moral of the story is that we need to not just welcome change, we need to embrace it and drive it.  Perhaps there was a moment a while ago when we had to concentrate on stopping boats and fixing the budget, but really, the big question that has to be asked as we all get back to work is "are we brave enough to take a trip to the tip with all our old junk that's not working and encourage a new generation to turn it into gold?"

We need some very big thinking by us all. Australia is no longer the mine that made us rich, we have to embrace a change to a high-tech, world leading society led by education and innovation. "So 2015 has to be the year of action and change," says Louise. "Or they will start calling us Detroit."

Exactly.

I think we can do it, more importantly we must.