The fourth goal for the Economic Development Plan is to support and grow communities within regions.
- regional economies
- boosting communities in our region
- regional planning and land use
- capital city plan
- our liveability advantage
Tasmania has one of the most decentralised populations of any state in Australia. These smaller, more connected communities contribute to Tasmania being a liveable place. Growing regional economies as attractive places to live and work can help reduce the pressure on Australia’s overcrowded cities and also mitigate the effect of concentrating investment and skilled labour in communities that have traditionally relied on resource extraction.
Sustainable economic development is an essential element of liveable regional communities and requires the cooperation of all three tiers of government and the community to develop and adopt relevant place-based approaches.
By focusing on place, we have the ability to understand the risks and the opportunities for sustainable communities. The more communities are dependent on a single or small number of industries, the more vulnerable they are to local and global shocks, as evidenced by the impacts as a result of the restructuring of the forestry industry. We need to work with local communities to develop economic development opportunities to help mitigate these risks. This means considering all resources in the community – human, natural and financial. As a key stakeholder in regional communities, local government will play an important part in this process.
Goal four of the Economic Development Plan focuses on supporting and growing communities within our regions. Initial priority actions under this goal will be:
- Local Government Partnership Program
- Transport planning
- Passenger transport innovation
- Regional development program
Three mulit-stakeholder regional reference groups will be established to support this work and provide advice on regional issues. Other ways we will be working to implement the elements spelt out in goal four is through:
The key outcomes of goal four can be found here.
