SEGRA 2021 Special Communique Strategic Directions for Regional
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SEGRA 2021 Special Communique
Strategic Directions for Regional,
Rural and Remote Australia in 2021
On behalf of the SEGRA National Steering Committee, it gives me much pleasure to release
this special edition of the SEGRA Communique: Strategic Directions for Regional, Rural and
Remote Australia in 2021.
About SEGRA
SEGRA is Australia's premier organisation on regional issues. It is recognised as Australia’s
most credible independent voice on issues affecting regional, rural and remote Australia. Its
strategic goal is to assist regional, rural and remote Australia to source and identify the
knowledge, techniques and skills regions require to achieve successful economic growth and
development.
SEGRA is committed to ensuring that regional, rural and remote Australia is fully considered
as part of the framing of the national agenda.
SEGRA, established in 1997, provides a unique opportunity for all sections of the Australian
community, rural and urban, to explore the key issues affecting regional, rural and remote
Australia and be part of providing positive sustainable outcomes to ensure future
prosperity.
SEGRA has led the way in being cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary, bringing together
practitioners, policy makers, researchers, business, community, health, social services and
the not-for-profit sector.
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SEGRA is a practice community of over 11,000 people representing economic, community,
health, social services and sustainability practitioners, all levels of government, researchers,
elected representatives and business.
As such, it is the upholder of extraordinary collective expertise across regional, rural and
remote Australia and is widely respected by governments, universities and regional
development practitioners.
SEGRA is unique in that it is grass roots and practitioner driven. It has particular expertise in
the area of implementation of government policy and projects.
Context
In this Communique, the SEGRA National Steering Committee (NSC) look at key issues
affecting regional Australia from a range of perspectives: policy, environment, economics,
social, governance.
To see the full biographies of the NSC please click here.
In preparing for this Communique, the SEGRA National Steering Committee focused their
thinking around four themes that were identified as the key strategic directions facing
regional, rural and remote Australia.
1. Major projects that deliver on strategic priorities to maximise value for money and
regional socio-economic objectives
2. Locally driven social and economic innovation
3. Service access, and
4. Capacity to respond to opportunity and unforeseen priorities
The ideas in this paper were first presented to a national webinar of 100 participants who
provided feedback and additional information. We would like to acknowledge and thank
these participants. To watch this webinar, please click here.
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1. The delivery of major projects to ensure the meeting of strategic
priorities to maximise value for money and regional socio -
economic objectives
Infrastructure policy
Infrastructure include transportation systems,
communication networks, sewage, water, and
energy systems and their associated markets.
“It is regional infrastructure that drives
economic development, service quality, digital
connectivity and digital health
services.” Infrastructure Australia 26 Feb 2021
Resource: 2021 Infrastructure Priority List
It is recognised that already governments invest
in infrastructure in regional Australia through a
number of funding and investment projects. It is welcomed that Infrastructure Australia has
made a commitment of part of its work program in 2021 to further examine infrastructure
in regional Australia. The Infrastructure Priority List 2021 places a strong focus on economic
development and service quality for remote and regional communities.
Infrastructure systems tend to be capital intensive and high-cost investments and in
regional Australia faces distinct risks and challenges due to population size, geographic
isolation, economic modelling constraints, reliance on dominant industry and single assets
and fluctuations in economic activity.
Particular characteristics of regional Australia that make infrastructure delivery even more
challenging. For example, local councils have large geographical areas and small population
bases, they also have less capacity to manage the lead in times, and technical skills required
to put forward shovel ready projects. Many of these projects involve construction, a
typically male dominated profession. The impacts of project lifecycles are also more
pronounced in regional, rural and remote Australia.
There is also the opportunity for Infrastructure provision to a have a broader focus.
Infrastructure also has a social and environmental effect. Infrastructure investment in
housing would make a significant difference to regions ability to attract professional staff
and their families. There are also significant gaps in the provision of social housing and this
impacts on community amenity. The costs of this type of infrastructure are smaller, have
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shorter lead times and the building skills required are often already in the community. An
important aspect is that a larger proportion of the economic benefit stays in the community.
Energy and other new technology
New technology is rapidly aligning with and better able to respond to individual, business
and community expectations. New energy technology is enabling local production (such as
solar and wind) to be decentralised. This has significant implications for distribution
networks as smaller players are able to participate and provides a significant opportunity for
local governments and localised decision making. Liquid gas is currently giving a 7% return
on investment. New technology also drives more jobs and provides opportunities for
transitioning regions
Telecommunications
It is recognised that the government is investing heavily in regional telecommunications,
however it is also acknowledged that for many people reliable access to internet services is
not yet a reality. The poor telecommunications in regional, rural and remote Australia
impacts on social connectivity, business to business transactions particularly a business’s
abilities to operate in a global market, supply chain continuity, business expansion,
provision of customer service and access to government services. It also increases
community’s isolation from other services such as telehealth, and professional development
and training.
In addition to access certainty, other barriers to the take up of telecommunications in
regional, rural and remote Australia include digital literacy, access to technical services and
cost. Many financially disadvantaged people use prepaid service which are comparatively
expensive.
SEGRA has been a long-standing advocate for fast fibre internet access.
2. Locally driven social and economic innovation
The philosophy of place-based thinking is derived from the
Locally driven social and economic
belief that people on the ground have the best knowledge
innovation, as always, will be a key
of their place and should be empowered to take control of
action agenda at SEGRA 2021 –
their futures. It is about bringing together citizens in a place
please think about the initiatives you
to address the complex needs of communities by
are involved in and the value of
harnessing the vision, resources and opportunities in each
sharing this with SEGRA delegates. If
community.
you are not on our mailing list to
receive updates about the “Call for
Two emerging trends in locally driven social and economic
Papers” please visit our website and
innovation are the increasing evolving of co-operatives and
sign up.
social enterprises.
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Co-operatives
There is an increasing
number of communities that
are establishing co-
operatives under various
business/legal models. These
cooperatives enable
members of the local
community to invest in their
region’s businesses. The Sea
Lake, Victoria township is an
example of a single
community investment that
then snowballs into other private business investment, street/town centre revitalisation and
increased appetite for further community investment. To read more about Sea Lake, please
click here.
Social enterprises
Social enterprises are businesses that trade to intentionally tackle social, environmental,
cultural and/or economic problems, thereby improving communities and providing people
with access to employment and training.
Magpie Goose is a social enterprise
fashion label that fosters the
celebration of Aboriginal culture,
people and stories through the medium
of fashion. Maggie Goose partners with
independent Aboriginal artists +
Aboriginal art centres to develop textile
designs suitable for yardage printing.
The designs are licensed through Arts
Law and Copyright Agency and Maggie
Goose pay artists a royalty for each
metre printed. Designs are screen
printed onto fabric and then sent to ethical clothing manufacturers in Australia. Maggie
Goose shoot the collection on country; and engage Aboriginal models wherever possible. In
early 2021, Magpie Goose transitioned to Aboriginal ownership and leadership; with non-
Indigenous co-founders Maggie McGowan and Laura Egan handing over the reins to
Brisbane-based creatives, curators and entrepreneurs Amanda Hayman and Troy Casey.
To find out more visit Magpie Goose’s website.
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It is important to note that both social enterprises and coops require leadership and
particular skill sets that need to be nurtured within regional communities for example
governance, grant applications, business planning. Maggie Goose was co-founded by
Maggie McGowan and Laura Egan (whom many of you will remember spoke at SEGRA in
2016). Both Laura and Maggie are lawyers.
A focus on, remote and Indigenous communities
Remote communities and particularly Indigenous communities experience additional
economic development challenges including corporate governance and financial
management skills.
Many of these communities however,
bring high level skills around living on
country, land and fire management
as well as knowledge of bush foods
and traditional medicine. There is an
increasing emergence of bush food
businesses developing in regional and
remote communities.
Are indigenous foods the future?
Many remote and Indigenous communities are coastal and opportunities are opening up to
develop new acquaculture businesses. The pearling industry is already well established in
Northern Australia and, with the support of Advance Queensland, the sea cucumber
industry is being developed in north Queensland. The sea cucumber is rich in protein and
complex organic compounds and has significant potential for development beyond the food
industry.
A second rapidly developing industry is carbon capture. The unique attributes of Savannah
Lands in northern Australia have been the subject of much work regarding the carbon
capture capacity of this particular vegetation type. The Northern Australia Environmental
Resources Portal brings together over a decade of environmental knowledge that is helping
to manage opportunities for carbon capture in the Savanna. Part of their model is a co-
operative relationship between Traditional Owners and Western Science in managing the
risk associated with build-up of fuel in Savannah vegetation stands. The technology being
developed can measure greenhouse gases emitted in May versus September and create
carbon credits that can be sold on market. The market potential is seen as $500m. For more
information, please click here.
Another example is The Centre for Appropriate Technology Limited (CfAT Ltd) based in Alice
Spring. CfAT Ltd is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) controlled business. It has a
core commitment to provide employment opportunities for Aboriginal people and works to
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provide solutions to infrastructure challenges that people face in maintaining their
relationship with country, primarily: reliable power, water supply, digital connectivity, built
infrastructure, training and skills development.
A particular challenge for northern Australia is the single industry economic model. Often,
these industries generate significant profit that may not be realised in the region. Two
factors contributing to this is that the Australian Head Offices for these companies are often
in Melbourne and Sydney and senior management in the field usually return to these cities
when they retire. Similarly, workers often invest their money (e.g. the family home in more
urbanised areas). Superannuation funds also leave regions to go to large Superannuation
Funds. A large proportion of this money is not reinvested across regional, rural and remote
Australia.
3. Service access
Many state and territory governments provide community resource centres and/or one stop
shops in regional locations to provide access to government services including the facility to
access internet and online services. This is to be commended.
Other direct person to person services that are provided by either the government, private
or not-for-profit sectors and are of particular importance to regional, rural and remote
Australia are health, education, trades and grocery/hospitality services.
Health
Telehealth
The increased availability of telehealth during
COVID-19 has been of significant advantage
to regional Australia both in terms of GP
access and Counselling Services (including
mental health). However, the constraints on
telecommunications as discussed above still
apply.
It is important to note that telehealth is a
tool for regional health care but is not
regional health care. In situ health care is also
needed because of the importance of a service provider understanding of the specific needs
of their local community and the relationship that develops between a service provider and
client in personal services. It is also difficult to effectively address social issues such as
juvenile diversion, and domestic and family violence through teleservices.
7The Northern Territory is currently looking at drone applications for the delivery of
medicines to remote properties in order to be more time responsive. Issues to be
considered include product storage safety and dispensing regulations.
It is important not to drain regional Australia of professional staff who play additional social
roles in communities.
Attracting Professionals, Business and skilled employees
Despite the revival or regional living as a response to COVID-19, much of regional Australia
experiences skills shortages with high numbers of vacancies in agriculture (particularly
labour supplies in the horticulture industry) trades, nursing, GP’s, and hospitality.
Strategies regions have developed to mitigate this include councils acting as a facilitator for
truck driver licencing; establishing agencies acting as a coordinating agency e.g. in social
services for grant writing, account keeping, HR management, governance; a central agency
to manage apprentices to ensure work continuity for apprentices and relieve employees
from some of the associated administrative obligations.
Rachel Whiting (RDA Riverina and SEGRA Challenge Winner) and Megan Dixon (RDA Orana)
spoke in a SEGRA Webinar last year about the various strategies they have deployed to
address skills needs in their regions. The webinar can be viewed here.
There is also a wonderful story of a café The Metro in Mount Gambier that has developed a
staffing model that has attracted unskilled, inexperienced, or otherwise disadvantaged
people and mentored them into the job and further careers. To read the article, please click
here.
Indigenous and remote communities
For people living in remote communities the challenges of regional Australia are increased.
However, technology is rapidly improving the connectivity of many of these communities.
Transport costs in terms of price of fuel are likely to decrease in line with increased electric
transport. Energy costs will also significantly reduce as point of consumption becomes
decentralised. Communications will improve as technology advances. For example, The
Applied Technology Centre in Alice Springs is currently developing cutting edge technology
that will deliver reliable access to telecommunication along the Stuart Highway.
4. Capacity to respond to opportunity and unforeseen priorities
COVID-19 has been a major disruption to society and the economy globally for the last 12
months and the situation is showing no signs of abatement, albeit with the arrival of various
vaccines.
8Immediate actions regions can take
In our Special Communique SEGRA released last year as part of our series of Conversations
on COVID-19, a number of key actions that regions could undertake were identified and all
of these remain relevant. To view the 2020 Special Communique visit, please click here.
In the Special Communique released last year the SEGRA NSC talked about the importance
of:
o Understanding the data that informs a regions strategic plans and how COVID-19
might change or create opportunities, as well as understanding the impacts of COVID
on the businesses critical to your region’s sustainability including risk assessments of
supply and demand chains, continuity plans, relaunch strategy
o Promoting ideas’ leaders
o Creating new networks or support existing and client focus, seek out and encourage
innovators – for example people with the capacity to adopt or adapt to new
technology
o Strengthening place-based responses – harnessing local capacity and creating
meaningful change at the local level
o Communicating to make sure the right people, the right information at the right time
Opportunities and Priorities
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many aspects of international commerce and will
continue do so for some time. These impacts have been felt particularly in export and
tourism industries as well horticulture industries. It is essential that businesses, industries
and government play their relevant role in mitigating impacts and maximising innovation
and adaptation to these changed conditions.
Export and Trade
Three critical trade-related impacts of the pandemic on Australian businesses are its effect
on international trade agreement negotiations, Australia's regulation of international trade,
and key supply chain risks for Australian importers and exporters.
International trade in services has been impacted by both government-imposed restrictions
on movement and the closure of retail and hospitality establishments. The global pandemic
is driving these trends on the demand side as consumers and businesses tighten their belts
in response to rising unemployment, economic uncertainty and revenue losses. Trade is also
impeded on the supply side: producers, transport and logistics companies, freight
forwarders and other actors across international supply chains are facing a growing list of
precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus. This includes new government
regulations and enhanced controls at the border in origin, transit and destination countries.
9This has meant a rapid change in business strategies including finding new supply chains and
markets, entering into new contracts and resolving contractual disputes. Export industries
have been supported in the adjustment by government and peak industries rapidly
developing and distributing new guidelines and regulations.
The Australian Government has committed funding through the International Freight
Mechanism (IFAM) helping to keep international freight routes and flights operating. This
funding is in addition to the $1 billion Relief and Recovery Fund which support regions,
communities and industry sectors disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The
Government has also announced increased funding for the Export Market Development
Grant (EMDG) allowing exporters and tourism businesses to get additional reimbursements
for costs incurred in marketing their products and services around the world.
Tourism
International Tourism has been severely disrupted by COVID-19, impacting some regions
more than others. Similarly, local state border closures have restricted consumer confidence
in interstate travel. However, a number of opportunities have also arisen with a marked
increase in intrastate tourism. Local regional destinations, particularly those accessible from
larger cities, for weekend breaks, are reporting strong visitor take up on weekends and
holiday periods. People are also travelling regionally on other leisure activities amplifying
the consumer spend and amenity of regional living. Several states and regions have
implemented additional marketing programs and/or are offering dining vouchers and other
types of incentives. Innovative operators are creating specialty offerings around paddock to
plate, arts and cultural getaways, and expanding farm stay products.
Strategic Goal 5 of The National Geotourism Strategy specifically focuses on the
development of geotourism in regional mining communities with potential geoheritage and
cultural heritage sites. SEGRA 2021 will be welcoming back geotourism specialist Angus M
Robinson to conduct one of our special spotlight sessions.
Horticulture
Horticulture, particularly the vegetable, fruit, nut and cotton producers, are particularly
reliant on migrant workers. (Dufty, Martin & Zhao (2019))
These industry sectors will continue to be affected while travel restrictions remain in place.
The lack of available labour is likely to increase the cost of production or at the extreme,
limit production as producers find it difficult to harvest.
10One proposed option is for unemployed domestic workers to meet the present shortfall in
overseas workers. However, high unemployment among domestic workers in the past has
not resulted in a strong uptake of horticultural work.
Other options for producers facing a shortfall in labour have included paying higher wages
and offering better than standard conditions of employment. For example, some
horticultural producers are offering prospective casual employees’ free accommodation.
The current industry business models may not be able to sustain this.
Another proposal put forward is to re-examine the visa application processes for example to
extend periods of time overseas works spent in a region and in a job. There have been
some variations to visas and travel in relation to people from the Pacific Islands to ease the
problem.
Finally, there is a distinct opportunity for various sectors to further investigate the ability to
increase technology, automation and the use of robots in the workplace to reduce the need
for human-to-human interaction while ensuring continued supply and in particular, reducing
the labour required for various low-skilled, repetitive tasks. These technologies will need to
be developed in collaboration with the industrial manufacturing sector to ensure they are fit
for purpose and cost effective.
11Continue to be part of the discussion at the National SEGRA
Conference in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder 16-18
November 2021
The SEGRA National Steering Committee is looking forward to revisiting our discussion
about the Strategic Directions for Regional, Rural and Remote Australia at the SEGRA 2021
Conference being conducted in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder from 16-18 November.
For regular updates about Keynote Speakers and the Program please join our mailing list.
The Theme and Action Agendas for SEGRA 2021
Theme: Unearthing diversification and adapting to a new
Action Agendas
• Strength through diversification
• Entrepreneurial action in regional Australia
• Celebrating Indigenous business
• Regional and global sustainability
• Technology transforming regional Australia
• Investing in social capital
• Branding regional Australia and growing population
• Tourism and Geotourism
If you have an issue that hasn’t been covered or case example you would like to share
please do not hesitate to contact me at kate@segra.com.au or on 0408 882 871
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