Regional councils unite to drive economic opportunities
Date published: 27 May 2016
Townsville City Council is joining forces with local councils and the Queensland Government to develop priority driven action plans to accelerate economic growth.
The Townsville and Region Pathfinder Project will bring together the ideas of community and business leaders across the region to provide a united economic “plan of attack”.
Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland Coralee O'Rourke said the Palaszczuk Government was underlining its commitment to generating jobs and growth in North Queensland with $60,000 toward the Pathways Project.
Townsville mayor Cr Jenny Hill joined mayors from Charters Towers, Hinchinbrook, Burdekin and Palm Island at today’s Regional Organisation of Councils (RED-ROC) to announce the project.
Led by the Townsville City Council and the Queensland Government, the Pathfinder initiative is engaging economic think tank Regional Australia Institute (RAI) to formulate global positioning strategies and priority-driven action plans for both Townsville City and the broader RED-ROC area.
“The RAI Pathfinder project is a golden opportunity for our RED-ROC communities to work together on a plan of attack to drive economic opportunities on a regional basis,” Cr Hill said.
“We stand to gain much more through collaboration, than everyone going it alone.
“With the expertise and coordination of RAI, the project will draw on ideas and views of our local business and community leaders to identify a small but select list of priority areas and agreed actions to boost our regional economy.
“The process will be highly important for individual councils, and for a collective effort to lobby for support and funding from State and Federal Governments and agencies.”
Mrs O'Rourke said the State Government’s contribution came on top of its accelerated works program, which has brought forward $367 million worth of shovel-ready projects and more than 800 regional across the north.
“Enterprising leadership is exactly what’s needed to further boost business and industry performance and confidence in the economic wealth and potential of the region,” she said.
“The Palaszczuk Government will continue to work with local government, business and industry to identify and develop opportunities for northern communities.”
The projects key objectives include:
* Identifying 3-6 ‘future factors’ that will drive economic development;
* Developing future scenarios for the region which capture the scale and nature of potential change;
* Deciding priority areas of collaborative action to be led by local business and community leaders;
* Setting out priority areas for engagement with Queensland and Australian Government agencies
* Identify issues outside the region’s influence that will require monitoring over time by local leaders
The Pathfinder project was proposed by business and industry leaders, and local, State and Federal decision makers following a review of the Townsville City Economic Development Plan 2013-17 last year.
The review highlighted the substantial economic development changes globally and regionally since the original Townsville City Economic Development Plan was developed.
Costing $110,000, the Pathway project has received $50,000 in funding from the Queensland Department of State Development and $10,000 from the Department of Education and Training, with funding contributions from the Townsville City Council, RED-ROC councils, RDA Townsville North West Queensland and Townsville Enterprise Ltd.
RAI gave mayors a project briefing at today’s RED-ROC meeting, outlining key objectives and timelines.
The project is scheduled to be launched in June with expected completion and release at the end of September.
