INLAND GROWTH SUMMIT, A UNITED VOICE FOR INLAND AUSTRALIA


11 January 2019

Regional Development Australia Orana Director Megan Dixon invites you to join RDA Orana on the 31st of January 2019 for the inaugural Inland Growth Summit.

Mrs Dixon said the Summit will put a spotlight on the role of Inland Australia and the challenges faced by Inland Centres to maintain population and achieve growth.

"When Government talks about regional development they include coastal areas of Australia. These areas have done relatively well in terms of population growth, as evidenced by 'sea change'. Many smaller inland regional centres have gone backwards in terms of population over the last two decades, inland regional cities are just holding their own with small growth at best" Mrs Dixon said.

"The one- day event aims to differentiate the challenges for Inland Australia."

"The Orana region is on the cusp of an unprecedented boom, with over $7.9 billion worth of projects planned for the next 5 years,"

"These projects will amount to about 2,500 direct permanent jobs, which will trigger at least another 2,500 flow on roles across the community, but we will not be able to sustain this project pipeline at our current growth rate,"

"RDA Orana have identified and recognised the workforce issues and our business community are telling us that the urban centres of Dubbo and Mudgee need to be about 100,000 and 50,000 people respectively to meet this demand,"

"There are challenges ahead for recruitment in the region, with employees spoilt for choice by the sheer number of available opportunities."

"Our guest speakers will cover a range of topics on the day including outlook and growth targets, impediments to growth and good planning models," Mrs Dixon said.

Dr Tom Measham of the CSIRO and presenter of the Strategic Foresight for Regional Australia publication, will be one of the speakers at the Summit, detailing what it could be like to live, work and invest in regional Australia in 30 years.

Other speakers include:

  • The Hon Mark Coulton MP, Member for Parkes
  • Roger Fletcher, Manager Director of Fletcher International Exports
  • Liz Ritchie, General Manager Strategy & Partnerships Regional Australia Institute
  • Fiona Nash, Strategic Advisor Regional Development at Charles Sturt University
  • Michael Cominos, Advancing Cities- Integrating land-use, infrastructure and technology to create value
  • Jillian Kilby, The Infrastructure Collaborative

Find out more here