TOWNSVILLE & NORTH WEST QUEENSLAND RECORD OF COMMUNITY INPUT 22 OCTOBER 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction... 3 2. Background and purpose... 5 2.1. Objectives of the Townsville forum... 5 2.2. Targeting participation in the consultations... 5 2.3. The open forum... 6 2.4 The policy roundtable... 6 3. The Results... 8 3.1. Major themes from the open community forum... 8 3.2. Top actions that the groups believed may be part of making the region perform at its very best:... 10 3.2.1. Transport infrastructure... 12 3.2.2. Digital economy... 12 3.2.3. Infrastructure... 12 3.2.4. Leadership and regional empowerment... 12 3.2.5. Affordable energy... 12 3.2.6. Water... 12 3.3. Input to the policy roundtable... 14 4. NEXT STEPS... 15 Appendix A: RAI s powerpoint presentation (open forum)... 17 Appendix B Invitation and advertisement for the policy roundtable... 22 Appendix C Verbatim inputs to the open forum... 24 regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 2
1. INTRODUCTION The Regional Australia Institute s (RAI) [In]Sight: the regional competitiveness index, and the Business Council of Australia s (BCA) Action plan for enduring prosperity have been developed to help identify key drivers of economic growth in the regions and for the nation as a whole. Both of these resources provide insight for policy makers about opportunities for economic growth and the challenges that must be addressed. They also point to where further investment may be needed. Adding a regional perspective to the work of the RAI and the BCA will help further policy development. Local knowledge and advice about regional attributes and aspirations will assist and refine the ongoing work of the RAI and the BCA. The RAI and the BCA would like to thank all the collaborators and participants who attended the open forum and policy roundtable in Townsville. Working with people on the ground to help regions to understand and capitalise on their full potential is a core objective of the RAI and assists the BCA in its broader agenda. The consultative process provides a platform for both organisations to realise these goals. The input from the community of Townsville will be invaluable to developing the future agenda of the RAI and the BCA, reflecting regional knowledge, interests and variation. The RAI and the BCA will draw on these insights in advocating policy reform to governments at the state and federal level, with the open forums providing a conduit for regional voices to be heard on a national stage. This document is a record of the input from the community to these consultations. It is a reference document for the RAI, the BCA, those located in the Townsville and North West Queensland regions and other interested community members. regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 3
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2. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Both the RAI and the BCA support and seek to promote the identification and development of Australia s comparative advantage by creating the right environment and systems to foster and drive innovation, diversify the economy and play to Australia s strengths. The planning for these community conversations has focussed on trying to maximise the opportunity for input from the community and the use of this in the development of the future agendas for the RAI and the BCA. 2.1. Objectives of the Townsville forum The Townsville consultation was held at James Cook University on Tuesday 22. It involved an open forum from 10:00am to 12:00pm, followed by a policy roundtable from 1:00pm 2:30pm. The objectives of the forum included: Understanding of the local initiatives that are already happening to develop the region, Identifying examples of initiatives participants believe could happen in the future, Finding ways we could work together to turn these ideas into reality. 2.2. Targeting participation in the consultations Invitations to participate in the open forum were sent out by the RAI. In addition, an advertisement inviting community members to attend appeared in the local paper, The Townsville Bulletin, on one occasion leading up to the event. A copy of the emailed invitation and the advertisement are attached as Appendix B. The policy roundtable invitations were sent to a number of contacts known to representatives of the RAI. These contacts were asked to forward the invitation to other key decision makers in the Townsville region, business and community representatives, young people and senior students from the local schools. Representatives of the following organisations attended the policy roundtable: Townsville chamber of commerce (2) Townsville City Council (4) Regional Development Australia, Far North Queensland and Torres Strait Inc (1) Port of Townsville (1) regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 5
2.3. The open forum The open forum was attended by 16 people and focussed on the key drivers of competitiveness as identified in the RAI s [In]Sight innovation, human capital and technological readiness. It drew on the data in [In]Sight to gain an understanding of why the region has particular strengths and weaknesses, the underlying and contributing factors to its competitiveness profile, and how this is impacting on the region. The conversation provided an opportunity for the BCA to listen to local people talk about key issues affecting the local economy and to help assess how they align with opportunities and challenges at the national level. 2.4 The policy roundtable The policy roundtable included two short opening presentations by the RAI on [In]Sight and the BCA on the Action plan for enduring prosperity and future work on Australia s competitive advantage. The presentations to the policy roundtable are available in Appendix A. The policy roundtable also considered the feedback provided during the forum, examined the actions put forward and considered how the region can grow. It identified the barriers to increasing competitiveness in the region and what can be done to address these barriers, along with the policy mechanisms that need to be put in place. regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 6
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3. THE RESULTS The consultation process was designed by PlanCom Consulting Pty Ltd, a specialist planning and community engagement company, and facilitated by Julie Boucher. The facilitator s role was to ensure that people had an opportunity to provide their input and that these were recorded for the purpose of this document, which will inform the future work of the RAI and the BCA. 3.1. Major themes from the open community forum Following introductions and an outline of the session, Su McCluskey, CEO of the RAI, provided a brief introduction to the RAI and its work, including the development of [In]Sight. This was followed by participants forming small groups to discuss each of the following three questions: 1. What makes this region great and work well at present? 2. What do you think has been present to make it work and/or make it work better at points of time in the past? 3. What do you think needs to be in place for the region to be at its very best? All group inputs to these questions are attached in Appendix C. The major themes provided by the participants in response to each of the three discussion questions are as follows: What makes this region great and work well at present? Maturing of the city, national profile Positioning as capital of northern Australia Proximity to Asia and PNG and opportunities to export with three ports in the region Access to connectivity to the north west minerals province Diverse economy and growth prospects of Townsville Economic and social infrastructure Opportunity for FIFO Certainty of defence Airport and aviation capacity and associated industries Economic diversity underpins institutions like TAFE this builds resilience Committed business community over a long period Cohesive planning and engagement with government and others in development Collaborative nature (government, business, community) Resilience and attitude and initiative Leadership North Queensland economic development plan Good political representation Group of mayors and strong political representation Natural and environmental resources and water Natural resources underpin diversity of industry Climate (coastal) and weather certainty regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 8
Quality of lifestyle not possible in other places supported by geography and climate Diversity of education services and facilities from early childhood to tertiary Tropical knowledge provides a unique product to export to the world Community events and activities that build community capacity, economic diversity and visitors Tourism assets Sport and recreation facilities What do you think has been present to make it work and /or make it work better at points of time in the past? Strong local advocacy meant city is effective at attracting investment (capital developments, entertainment centre, ring road, James Cook University growth, port, museum Leadership (political and business) Stable foundations and diversity through: a) long establishment and history b) agriculture and grazing c) defence presence and expansion Renewal as result of natural disasters (e.g., strand) Energy costs allowed development to occur Sun Metals Strong institutions Administrative centre for north Queensland Strong manufacturing / engineering sector Strong university presence research strengths Tropical expertise focus More innovation and diversity Strength of sub-regions around Townsville Competitive advantages in labour Population base and retention of stable industry Welcoming (and friendly) community A big range of events opportunity to build on this Land availability (new land Act addressing tenure issues) lots of residential land and development availability Natural resources International airport led by tourism a decade ago but Cairns has taken the boom no current international flights utilising this airport e.g., to PNG Transport infrastructure and accessibility and freight infrastructure. What do you think needs to be in place for the region to be at its very best? Building the global identity of region, communicating diversity Eliminating the stereotypes of the north and finding ways to encourage investments, then make it happen need to be more collaborative as a region to make this work Becoming the official capital of north Australia, e.g., Departments and key industry players Increasing connectivity between community (physical and electronic) Improving NBN, digital capacity, broadband, mobile communications capacity including outside of Townsville Improving public transport throughout the region regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 9
Ensuring transport infrastructure road, rail and coastal shipping reliability in the wet Increasing infrastructure capacity for the future Streamlining assessment processes and certainty Improving travel costs Establishing direct flights to PNG / Indonesia Moving to more dense population in key areas Addressing socioeconomic challenges Promoting secondary and tertiary education education attainment levels increased across the region Addressing energy reliability and cost Opportunity in renewable energy solar, geothermal, clean coal, peak load power affects production for industry (viability and expansion) Water infrastructure use of wastewater, raise dam / pipeline Maintaining sport, defence, infrastructure quality, James Cook University Accessibility of region as a distribution hub, logistic facilities, intermodal facilities Investment policy that has a regional focus Retaining talent Overcoming hurdles in cost of business investment (incentives and subsidies to do so) and funding Becoming recognised as a global leader in tropical expertise Government services a) reducing duplication (coordination /communication) between services b) decentralisation of government departments from south to north c) improving access to services throughout the region 3.2. Top actions that the groups believed may be part of making the region perform at its very best: Participants were invited to work in groups to use the material generated in the previous session, identifying five priority actions that were important for the region. The answers were then sorted into categories, forming six distinct action areas. Transport infrastructure Road, rail and coastal infrastructure Transport Infrastructure (e.g., distribution hub) Infrastructure roads, rail (flood proof), ports, air, telecommunications Digital economy Broadband connectivity (ubiquitous) Telecommunications Infrastructure Social Infrastructure a) attracting and retaining families regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 10
b) building populations c) access to health services Education increase education attainment levels Leadership and regional empowerment Capacity to coordinate Collaboration across north Queensland Present stronger external brand and identity to the rest of Australia and the world International traffic through airports Integrate planning process and state / federal /regional / local level to provide coherent statement on growth and development no statutory regional plan investment certainty Recognised as the capital of northern Australia decentralise decisions to region (government and industry) Affordable energy Affordable energy (peak load) renewable Affordable energy access to support growth and maintain current industry Energy a) cost b) supply to industry Water Security of NW region Mining water Optimising potential Burdekin Mt Isa and Cloncurry Dams Water supplies (regionally) Participants were asked to choose one of these 6 areas to work on and were invited to join any group. The following is the results of the discussions in the small groups around these action areas. The groups were asked to specifically respond to the following questions: What is possible for the region to do to build on its current strengths related to this/ these suggested actions? What additional support might the region require to do these actions? regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 11
3.2.1. Transport infrastructure Getting private investment in Need governments to deliver on promises, particularly on roads Need to minimise disruption Air travel is expensive 3.2.2. Digital economy Lending support Broadband for the tropics Education 3.2.3. Infrastructure More open to outsiders and different cultures More global engagement Build labour force to support growth in this area Asian orientation Attract expertise from a young age to the region Liveability and lifestyle amenity Multiculturalism in the city connectivity from the city to international 3.2.4. Leadership and regional empowerment Communication strategy Demonstrate benefits to decisions of local knowledge Develop strategy of focus projects (e.g., international hubs) as a focus point. Competitive strength a) climate b) accessibility/ proximity c) diverse, stable 3.2.5. Affordable energy Supplement peak load supply Cost competitive with SEQ Renewable commitment Support required a) commitment federal, state industry b) identification of resources 3.2.6. Water Regional science and economic feasibility for water management Funding/ collaboration / prioritisation, leadership, reallocation Groups were asked to give the whole group a quick verbal report on the outcomes of their groups. Su McCluskey, CEO, Regional Australia Institute, concluded the forum by thanking everyone for their participation and talking about the next steps. regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 12
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3.3. Input to the policy roundtable Presentations by Su McCluskey, CEO of the RAI and Maria Tarrant, Deputy CEO of the BCA preceded a discussion with how the RAI, the BCA and participants of the roundtable could work together to support regional development. This resulted in the following issues and ideas being discussed: Balance distribution of funds to growth areas Acknowledge the power and potential of northern Australia in the BCA s Action plan for enduring prosperity Minerals processing adds value maintain / improve infrastructure for cost competitiveness Policy at all levels of government for raw material processing prior to export Promote drivers for economic growth that are coming out of the region Find links between what is important to us and what is important to others in positions of influence Map seats in House of Representatives, increase representation level of representation equals level of influence Get an audience with the decision makers to tell the story, to market our region Move beyond political cycle Population management encourage / incentives for distribution of population from cities to regions Review the model for finding distribution to encourage in migration of skills and encourage small business owners Communicate our skills, capacity and capabilities Demonstrate we have the skills and capacity we can do it encourage others to utilise us and move to the area Educate others about our capabilities Provide us with the evidence we need to support us in achieving our goals Provide information to allow us to better calculate return on investment for investment decisions in particular social information Information about what is working in different areas and how like a menu of options. Consider / sell the whole of North Queensland rather than smaller areas Gladstone north has enormous economic power collaboration Locate in northern Australia have representatives here Advocate priorities from morning session As the BCA progresses with its work on sectoral competitiveness it should consider regional opportunities The BCA s infrastructure work is looking at freight and port infrastructure. There may be opportunities for joint approaches to this issue Jack Archer, General Manager of Research and Policy, Regional Australia Institute, closed the session and thanked people for their participation. regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 14
4. NEXT STEPS The RAI s regional competitiveness index, [In]Sight, and the BCA s Action plan for enduring prosperity have been developed to help identify key drivers of economic growth in the regions and for the nation as a whole. Both resources provide an insight for policy makers about where further investment may be needed. But to achieve positive action, the information they offer needs to be melded with local knowledge to identify where communities want to go, and how organisations like ours can help them get there. Working with people on the ground to help regions understand and capitalise on their full potential is a core objective of the RAI and the BCA, to better understand the potential of regional Australia to help drive Australia s growth. The consultative process provides a platform for these ambitions to be realised. The input from the community of Townsville will be invaluable to developing the future agenda of the RAI and the BCA, reflecting regional knowledge, interests and variation. The RAI and the BCA will draw on these insights in advocating policy reform to governments at the state and federal level, with the open forums providing a conduit for regional voices to be heard on a national stage. regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 15
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Appendix A: RAI s powerpoint presentation (open forum) regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 17
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RAI s powerpoint presentation (policy roundtable) regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 20
BCA s powerpoint presentation (policy roundtable) regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 21
Appendix B Invitation and advertisement for the policy roundtable regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 22
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Appendix C Verbatim inputs to the open forum What makes this region great and work well at present? Table one Proximity to Asia opportunities to export with three ports in the region Family and lifestyle, education, recreation Community events and activities that builds community capacity, diversity of the economy and generates visitors Economic diversity underpins institutions like TAFE this builds resilience Cohesive planning and engagement with government and others in development Maturing of the city, national profile Natural resources underpin diversity of industry Aviation capacity throughout the region Group of mayors and strong political representation Committed business community over a long period Geography and climate support quality of lifestyle not possible in other places Diversity of education services from early childhood to tertiary Tropical knowledge provides a unique product to export to the world Reliability of town supplies. Table two Climate (Coastal) and weather certainty Diverse economy (Townsville) Access to connectivity to the north west minerals province Natural and environmental resources and water Tourism assets Growth Prospects (Townsville) Education and education facilities (compared with the tropical areas) Port facilities and capacity Airport capacity and associated industries and aviation Proximity to Asia Sport and recreation facilities / profile Economic and social infrastructure Western resources (natural) Opportunity for FIFO to service Certainty of defence Positioning capital of northern Australia Collaborative nature (government, business, community) Resilience and attitude and initiative Leadership Table three North Queensland Economic Development Plan a) identified key strengths and challenges b) to be released early next year c) currently bedding down infrastructure d) group of mayors working on this regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 24
e) e.g., allows Charters Towers to understand what happened on the coast f) like to drive renewable energy spearhead the model for local government g) sick and tired of watching government decisions be made for region that work elsewhere e.g., work on the coast Townsville enterprise encourage a meeting State development Lifestyle education and social aspects Climate and predictability Diversity Good political representation Hard infrastructure e.g., Port Exports proximity to Asia and PNG Region very well organised to send messages around plan and prioritise coherent. What do you think has been present to make it work and/or make it work better at points of time in the past? Table one Natural disasters have driven renewal (e.g., strand) Sun Metals, energy costs allowed development to occur Competitive advantages in labour Strong local advocacy meant city is effective at attracting investment (capital developments, entertainment centre, ring road, James Cook University growth, port, museum) International airport Port linked to north west channels, economic activity through the city North Queensland administrative centre Strong manufacturing / engineering sector Tropical expertise focus in development Strength of subregions around Townsville Distance from Brisbane etc builds self reliance and independence, can do attitude (e.g., cleaning company innovation) Climate as an enabler Stable foundations and diversity a) agriculture and grazing has provided a base b) defence presence and expansion Table two North west mineral province Coastal agriculture Resilience (attitude) Leadership (political and business) Port International airport Traditional industry (such as manufacturing) Population base and retaining stable industry Commitments (through multi generations) creating stable base regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 25
Welcoming (and friendly) community Table three Defence stabilising force as well as agriculture (Townsville agriculture stable less so in north west) Land availability lot of residential land and development availability (new land act addressing tenure issues) Natural resources Long establishment and history gives stability Strong university presence research strengths More innovation and diversity Strong institutions International airport led by tourism a decade ago but Cairns taken boom no current international flights utilising this e.g., to PNG A big range of events opportunity to build on this Transport infrastructure and accessibility and freight infrastructure. What do you think needs to be in place for the region to be at its very best? Table one NBN, digital capacity, broadband, communications capacity Public transport throughout the region Energy reliability and cost a) scale b) efficiency c) distributed systems Flights to PNG / Indonesia that are direct 300 connections currently to Cairns, Brisbane, Rockhampton Education attainment increase across the region a) cost b) socio economic challenges c) community service obligations not paid for Transport infrastructure road, rail and coastal shipping reliability in the wet Building global identify of region, communicating diversity Opportunity in renewable energy solar, geothermal, clean coal, peak load power affects production for industry (viability and expansion) Water infrastructure use of wastewater, raise dam / pipeline Maintain sport, defence, infrastructure quality, James Cook University accessibility of region as a distribution hub, logistic facilities Move to more dense population in key areas Investment policy that has a regional focus a) hurdles in cost of business b) travel costs c) policy component Infrastructure capacity for future Table two Road, rail, coastal shipping, infrastructure Acknowledgement of potential regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 26
Population growth Connection / connectivity between community (physical and electronic) Reduced duplication (coordination /communication) between services Deliver and reform on aspirations Overcome stereotypes Affordable energy and renewable (deal with peak load) Long term career pathways Decentralisation of government departments from south to north Streamlined assessment processes and certainty Accessibility Technology communications Access to Government services (west) Investment (incentives and subsides to do so) and funding Retention of talent Promotion of secondary and tertiary education Capitalise and export tropical expertise (including agriculture) Table three Key infrastructure road/rail/logistics/sea eg natural disasters /distribution precinct /intermodal facilities Affordable energy (refer TEL work) supply and price relates to growth of industry barrier to industry growth because of high price and production price Need to become official capital of North Australia e.g., departments and key industry players Access to technology outside of Townsville broadband and mobile Recognised as global leader in tropical expertise Broader investment opportunities incentive and subsidise to get this Find a way to eliminate the stereotypes of the north and find ways to encourage investments then must make it happen need to be more collaborative as a region to make this work Regional Development Australia Fund projects demonstrate value of investment in north regionalaustralia.org.au PAGE 27