By Devon Gilmour *
In response to The Good Oil column by Rod Brown in the March issue of Local Government Focus, there are a few points I wish to make with regard to regional development, in particular his assertion that ‘regional development practitioners cannot fully deliver’. I support education and training for economic development professionals, but the lack of focused training in Australia highlights how new our regional and economic development industry is.
Local Governments in Western Australia have only been employing full time regional development managers like myself for the past five years, so it is too early to suggest that these practitioners cannot deliver.
One of the reasons Local Government in WA is employing people in regional development is that the existing State and Federal Government systems have failed to deliver Unless we are prepared to do this work for our own community then no one else will do it for us.
We need to create direct links with the private sector and think more globally about trade and investment attraction opportunities for our region. For too long we have relied on other organisations to provide new opportunities in regional areas. For example, in WA we have the State Development Commission and the Federal Area Consultative Committees. The resource levels for both these groups, particularly in the wheat belt region which has 44 Councils, are appalling.
Local Governments planning to resource regional development must take a long term approach. Practitioners need to define and implement several stages before reaching successful outcomes. They must define the region’s economic strengths and points of difference.
The work of a practitioner is often at odds with Local Governments that have traditionally put up barriers to development and the practitioner must challenge the organisation’s existing culture.
Economic diversity is the key to regional development – more of the same will not do the job. Attracting new industry to regional areas is necessary to diversify most Councils’ very narrow economic base. Lobbying capacity, drive, and a passion for regional areas are also needed. The Shire of Moora, 173 kms north Perth, is considered Australia’s ‘safest’ farming region because we have never been drought declared. Sheep and wheat are our primary industries and Moora Shire Council’s motto is ‘Exporting to the World’.
Council is almost four years into its regional development program. After identifying opportunities for economic growth and diversity, we are now lobbying, negotiating and supporting the development of $80 million worth of projects to diversify our income streams.
More importantly, Council and the community are focused on what we need to achieve. This is a big shift for a wheat belt Local Government with 2,500 people! Therefore, I would suggest with strong Council backing ‘regional development practitioners can deliver’.
For further information contact Devon Gilmour, email dgilmour@moora.wa.gov.au or telephone (08) 9651 1401.
* Devon Gilmour is Enterprise Development Manager at the Shire of Moora.
