Dubbo Regional Council is investigating ways to tackle intergenerational disadvantage in the local government area, with the long-term plan of reducing crime.

As part of the plan, council staff travelled to Burnie in Tasmania to study their Burnie Works program, which has been running for the past seven years.

In a report on the issue, council’s director community and recreation Murray Wood said the need to act in Burnie began in 2010 when the pulp mill shut down and 2000 people lost their jobs.

“The culture in Burnie at the time was that young people didn’t need to finish year 12 but would leave at employment age and get an apprenticeship at the mill. There has been a lot of work done in the community arising from Burnie Works to change this mindset and motivate young people to finish year 12, proceed to university and to be able to participate in the modern economy of the region,” he said.

Successful community efforts were the result of long term and entrenched collaborative activity designed to assist the community to address complex social issues, Mr Wood said.

The Burnie Works collaborative impact model uses five principals: a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication and backbone support organisations.

While there are considerable differences between the demographics of Dubbo and Burnie – the town has an unemployment rate of 8.9 per cent, while Dubbo’s is 2.7 per cent – Mr Wood said the biggest thing learnt from the city’s social program was the need for it to be driven by the community, rather than owned by council.

The program is chaired by business and community leaders to ensure the public can influence and drive sustainable outcomes. Burnie City Council suggested Dubbo council not go beyond providing administrative support and having a presence on the program team.

Council also studied the ‘Logan Together’ campaign in Queensland and Bourke’s Justice Reinvestment program.

A proposal to introduce collective impact model as a means to empower the community will be considered by council and the Social Justice and Crime Prevention Committee in February.