Wanting to embrace the Committee of Economic Development Australia’s (CEDA) reinvigorated definition of economic development as "the process of improving our residents lives by enabling a dynamic economy and vibrant society", the Council placed greater emphasis on community engagement with local business and industry and the broader community.
Adopting IAP2 principles of community engagement, the Council undertook extensive consultation, seeking input and ownership from the community into the future direction of the region’s economic development. Insights were drawn from face-to-face sessions and a comprehensive survey which revealed community challenges being experienced in education, health care, and housing.
Reflecting on these findings, the Council identified strong alignment with the RAI’s key principles and pillars of the Regionalisation Ambition 2032. The Framework provided the Council with a ready-made structure to shape their final Strategy – tailoring the pillars and principles to their community needs and shaping measurable targets to 2028.
The targets and datapoints were a valuable tool in the process, as it enabled the Council to efficiently develop a baseline for measuring success against their new strategy. The inclusion of new datapoints, such as the Australian Digital Inclusion Index, would broaden success measurements.
The adaptive application of the Framework allowed the Council to position their economic development priorities within a national strategy, enabling the measurement, comparison and communication of their region’s economic priorities.
By leveraging the Framework, the Council hope to encourage further collaboration and alignment of priorities between tiers of government, enabling stronger focus on critical issues for not only their region, but regions across Queensland and Australia.
The Council’s Economic Development Strategy is a succinct, 10-page document, offering an introduction to Economic Development, including an overview of key regional challenges with a measurable framework to address these. The Council has been commended on their new strategy, for addressing economic development in the region holistically, with an awareness of other issues such as liveability and sustainability.
You can access the strategy on their website.
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