Regional Investment
Are we ready to invest in the long term future of regional communities?
We seem to be good at defining the broad scale issues and policy but, fail miserably at the local application. There must be better ways to make a difference in the daily lives of regional communities.
We need to Invest NOT Mitigate
To deliver social, economic and environmental outcomes that support the future of regional communities requires a reinvention of our specialised delivery processes. We will need to develop a new way of providing infrastructure to ensure it is an investment for future generations rather than mitigation of short term profiteering impacts.
There is no Funding Problem
There has been and always will be funding for regional initiatives and infrastructure. The real issue is that we haven’t been very wise in how we spent it. More funding within the existing framework will just deliver more of the same. The only way we will deliver real outcomes to the age old rhetoric of supporting regional communities is to change our delivery process. Until we integrate our siloed approach to developing regional infrastructure projects and managing their implementation we are condemned to the outcomes of the past.
Regional Networks and Town Clusters
The future of a diverse and vibrant region will be dependent on how we transform the small towns and communities outside our regional cities. This challenge calls for a strategic intervention that recognises local strengths and seizes the opportunity to build a viable network of socially, economically and environmentally active communities. We need to develop a network of town clusters that provides vitality at the local level as well as supporting regional productivity.
Jobs for the future – a rare opportunity for transition
Well paid local employment that can support the future families of regional communities will need to be drawn from the new digital economy. Agricultural industries will be unable to provide the scale of job growth to balance the needs of aging regional communities and most resource jobs are not local or sustainable. There is a critical need for infrastructure to enable the new digital economy to flourish and deliver the employment to support long term job growth as well as provide the essential productivity gains to enable local and mainstreet businesses to thrive.
