People Shaping Regional Australia
Updated: 3 days ago
Regional Development Australia Wide Bay Burnett (RDAWBB) joined the national conversation in Canberra at this year’s Regions Rising National Summit, connecting with people from across regional Australia and sharing what we are seeing and hearing here in the Wide Bay Burnett. The Summit provided an opportunity to exchange ideas, build connections and bring regional perspectives into conversations about what comes next.
RDAWBB headed to Canberra recently to attend Regional Australia Institute’s (RAI) Regions Rising National Summit, bringing together regional leaders, policymakers, business and community representatives under this year’s theme of People Power, underscoring the role people play in shaping the future of regional Australia.
Regional Australia stands at a defining moment. The shifts underway present significant opportunities, from population growth, energy infrastructure, critical minerals, domestic manufacturing, digital disruption and infrastructure to housing pressures and workforce gaps, alongside the increasing unpredictability of our climate. These forces require us to think differently and do differently.
These topics were placed at the very centre of this year’s RAI Region’s Rising National Summit. The summit is an opportunity to explore how we can ensure the regions are heard and receive their fair share of funding, have a seat at the decision-making table, do not miss out on critical services, and have the population, housing and infrastructure needed to build a prosperous, people-powered regional Australia.
The Regions Rising National Summit was an opportunity for RDAWBB to connect with people from the regions right across Australia and hear what is happening on the ground from every corner of Australia.
A highlight was our Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program’s (RDRP) Business Resilience Reserve Account, or BRRA, having a national audience. BRRA is a proposed seed initiative that essentially offers a tax-effective way for eligible businesses and farms to put money aside, with access triggered when they face defined periods of hardship or financial pressure, such as a drought or other disaster. The idea is to give regional businesses greater agency over their own resilience. Instead of waiting for the next grant, disaster payment or government program, they would have a financial reserve they have built themselves and can draw on when they need it.
The two-day Summit allowed the BRRA initiative to be tested and discussed in a more relaxed environment, with RDA Board Member and Gympie Regional Mayor Glenn Hartwig, RDRP Program Coordinator Tim Sayer and RDAWBB Director Sotera Trevaskis speaking one-on-one with policymakers and national decision makers, including Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien, Flynn MP Colin Boyce, Bundaberg MP David Batt and Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and Minister for Emergency Management, Kristy McBain.
Tim said
“Taking the proposal to Canberra was as much about testing the idea as promoting it. Not only did the initiative receive a positive reaction, but more importantly, some critical feedback that will only strengthen the proposal.
"For me, being able to speak directly with Dr Ken Henry, former Secretary of the Australian Treasury, and his confirmation of the idea having merit, was a sign that we are headed in the right direction.”
Day two of the Summit brought Regional Dialogue Day. An invite only event that offers a platform for local solutions to be seen, tested and amplified, helping the best ideas move from regions to national impact.
Selected from more than 50 submissions, the RDRP’s BRRA initiative took the stage alongside 11 other presentations, each showcasing ideas designed to make a difference across regional Australia.
The affectionately named BRRA bros, Tim and Glen, did RDAWBB and the initiative itself proud. With keen interest from a captive audience of RAI members, private sector representatives and national changemakers, there was plenty of feedback gathered and further conversations to be had, which will help shape and strengthen the idea as it continues to develop. Having the opportunity to test the idea in front of people who can help shape policy is one of the strengths of bringing regional ideas into a national forum.
The people who live and work in Australia's regions understand their challenges because they are living them. Bringing those ideas together, testing them with others and taking them into the rooms where policy is shaped is an important part of making sure regional experience has a voice.
For RDAWBB the Canberra trip was another example of regional knowledge being taken beyond the region, with an idea that seeded in the Gympie Region now being considered as a potential new way to help businesses and primary producers prepare for whatever comes next.
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