Regional Queensland has a major opportunity to build new industries but its success will depend on preserving its liveability and the unique character of each area.
This was a key theme at the Queensland Futures Institute’s first Queensland Annual Regions Summit, held last week, which discussed the challenge of turning regional growth into lasting economic and community benefits.
Local Government Association of Queensland Chief Executive Alison Smith said regional communities would need to ensure growth enhanced rather than eroded the qualities that made people want to live there.
“The success that councils will have in terms of how they grapple with that (is) ultimately community liveability because that is at the heart of what councils do every day,” Ms Smith said.
“It is incredibly important that every Queensland community is a livable one and that no community is left behind.
“When you think about our incredibly diverse regions, you want to ensure that, with that growth, they are keeping their characteristics – they are keeping the fabric that makes them unique. We (need to be) using growth to optimise and enhance rather than take away.”
A regional space industry
The importance of attracting people was reinforced by Gilmour Space Technologies co-founder Adam Gilmour, who said access to experienced engineers and technicians was now a bigger constraint on expanding high-tech industries in regional Queensland than access to capital.
Gilmour Space Technologies chose Bowen in north Queensland for its launch operations because it combined existing infrastructure, suitable state land and safety distances with about 2000km of ocean downrange.
Mr Gilmour told the summit that Queensland regions had already demonstrated they could support technically sophisticated industries.
“When we bring people from overseas to the launch site, they’re amazed that the local industry developed a lot of that capability,” Mr Gilmour said.
“We look at the regions as having similar capabilities as anywhere and you know, Mackay and Townsville punch well above their weight on engineering stuff.”
Mr Gilmour said finding experienced people remained the biggest barrier to further expansion.
“The biggest problem we have is finding talent and finding engineers with a lot of experience,” Mr Gilmour said.
“That’s going to be a challenge I think continually if you want to have a lot of high tech stuff up north, we got to figure out how to have more engineers up there, more technicians.”
Development and liveability inseparable
Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson said liveability and economic development were increasingly inseparable.
He said Mackay should not view diversification as moving away from its traditional strengths in resources and agriculture, but as finding new ways to use the expertise, infrastructure and industries already established in the region.
“The word diversification is bandied around a lot,” Cr Williamson said.
“(But) when we look at the future of those particular industries we’re actually looking at how we can utilise the industries that we are very proficient at and make something (more) out of (them) in the future.”
He said resources alone accounted for about 60 percent of the region’s GDP, while Mackay was also looking at opportunities including recovering minerals from mine tailings and developing new industries from its agricultural base.
Cr Williamson said the region also had an unusually strong technical and innovation base.
This included an exceptionally large conglomeration of STEM businesses and engineering patents.
Cr Williamson said councils had an important role in creating an environment that allowed those businesses and their employees to remain in regional communities.
“It’s about allowing people in our community to live in a community where they want to be. And that’s the that’s where council contributes to the livability of the region.”
Cr Williamson pointed to council involvement in initiatives including the Resources Centre of Excellence, Future Industries Hub and tourism investment as part of that effort.
“Livability actually draws people to the region and then the region is saying to (investors) – we’re open for business,” he said.
“You’ve got to have that (liveability) as a palpable reason for investment and businesses.”
The first regional summit
The summit was the first annual regional summit staged by the Queensland Futures Institute.
QFI chief executive Steve Greenwood told the forum QFI was an independent, non-partisan organisation that brought senior leaders together to develop ideas and solutions for Queensland’s long-term economic future, with regional Queensland a central focus of its work.
He said the Institute was designed as a forum where ideas could be considered on their merit and leaders could speak candidly, learn from each other and build relationships around Queensland’s future.
More details on the institute are here
