Commonwealth, State and Territory ministers responsible for regional development have attended the inaugural meeting of the COAG Standing Council on Regional Australia to discuss the ‘ambitious cooperative agenda’ to deliver real and lasting growth across regional Australia.

 

The Council has outlined the following agenda:

  • work together on an integrated infrastructure investment strategy
  • development of a framework for regional economic development
  • the key determinants of long-term regional economic growth
  • further develop a regional engagement framework, and
  • cooperate on testing alternative approaches to providing local infrastructure.

 

Over the course of the two day meeting, the Council settled on the broad scope of the strategy to ensure that existing and future investments across tiers of government compliment large scale investments and align with the priorities of local communities on infrastructure investments valued between $15 and $100 million.

 

The Council committed to a way forward on a framework for regional economic development and as a first step, agreed the key determinants of long-term regional economic growth.

  • human capital, particularly education and skills
  • sustainable (economically, environmentally and socially) communities and population growth
  • access to international, national and regional markets
  • comparative advantage and business competitiveness, and
  • effective cross-sectoral and intergovernmental partnerships (including through place based approaches) and integrated regional planning .