Demand is growing for aged care workers in regional areas and so policymakers should be focused on this rather than manufacturing jobs.
Paul Miller/AAP
Innovation is focused on regional centres that have research and development institutions, but more than 150 regional areas have potential to match this innovation, research finds.
Among Australia’s eight largest regional cities, Hobart is very inwardly connected.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Knowing a city’s professional network ratio helps to understand how connected its inhabitants are to other markets, customers and ideas. All support innovation, adaptation and city growth.
Edinburgh is one of the European cities that make the most of their creative and cultural assets.
Hamish Irvine/flickr
A comparison of 36 Australian cities finds that, unlike Europe, the data on their creativity and culture are not closely linked to their capacity to generate economic value and social well-being.
International migrants are key contributors to the unskilled workforce.
World Bank/flickr
Regional settlement of migrants benefits both new arrivals and local communities.
Geelong’s relatively high creative industries score, coupled with a robust rate of business entries, provides a solid foundation for steady growth.
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Regional cities can be as effective at generating jobs and growth as their big five metro cousins. But they must identify and build on their strengths to be investment-ready.
The government should focus more on supporting whole towns, rather than propping up certain industries like car manufacturing.
GM Hotel/AAP
The side effects of globalisation that have led to our current populist politics will not be successfully addressed by old-style industry policy.
A farmer might be more likely to chat to her hairdresser about the tough time she’s having than seeking professional help.
from www.shutterstock.com.au
Regions that offer adquate amenities for residents have the best chance of converting long-distance commuters into the sort of new residents who can sustain regional prosperity.
The housing affordability crisis isn’t limited to the big cities – the Tweed Heads area, for instance, is rated worse than Melbourne in the latest survey.
AAP
Outside the capital cities and the coastal fringes, the towns and people of rural and regional Australia have had to be inventive to get through the tough times.
Bailey Brooks, who lives on her family’s station 400km south of Alice Springs, won nbn Co’s national drawing competition with an illustration of the SkyMuster satellite. But is the satellite enough for her family?
AAP/nbn Co
A new coalition of bodies representing regional Australia is calling on the government to help guarantee better access to the internet and the networked economy.
Rural and regional policy must be made in context, not in isolation.
AAP/Lukas Coch
It’s time for a fresh look at community and policy development in rural and regional NSW – one that recognises that doing things differently will deliver benefits to urban populations as well.
Connecting the city and regions, long-distance commuting is a significant factor in regional centres.
Peter Mackey/flickr
Long-distance commuting may help promote the development of regional cities by boosting local populations, skills and incomes.
A lack of differences in major policy areas such as agriculture and trade means local project funding – for roads, boat ramps and the like – reinforces the adage ‘all politics is local’.
AAP/Alan Porritt
On the big national policies affecting non-metropolitan Australia, such as agriculture and trade, the major party differences are minor. That’s why the election focus turns to local projects.
The Southeast Queensland Regional Plan’s revision will include engagement of the community.
Colin Russo
A long-term plan can’t properly underpin a vision without engaging many of Southeast Queensland’s stakeholders and visitors or without the use of appropriate futures methods.
Long before the election was called, Labor leader Bill Shorten was in Eden-Monaro talking about the cost of living.
Andrew Taylor/AAP
Superannuation, health and child care are among the issues that are likely to matter most to voters in the bellwether NSW seats of Eden-Monaro, Robertson and Lindsay.
While politicians like Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce do the traditional photo-ops, fewer people than ever are taking on farming, which can no longer support vibrant rural and regional communities on its own.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
What are the issues facing rural and regional Australia? The challenges are many and varied – and only some have made the national political agenda – but these areas deserve better than neglect.
Television in regional Australia is about to get a shake-up.
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The Nine Network’s partnership with Southern Cross Austereo doesn’t just impact regional television. It has ramifications for media ownership, television and what counts as ‘local content’.