Businesses are telling Regional Development Australia (RDA) Orana that the population of the Dubbo region taking in Wellington needs to grow from about 60,000 to 100,000 people to support future economic activity.
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Slow-growing if not declining populations of Australia’s inland communities and “critically-low” unemployment rates in places like Cobar are among the drivers of the first Inland Growth Summit on January 31 in Dubbo.
RDA Orana has issued an open invitation to the one-day event as its region sits on the “cusp of an unprecedented boom”.
More than $7.9 billion worth of projects are planned for the region across the next five years including the $1.3 billion Dubbo Project, the $60 million Bourke small stock abattoir and the $300 million Crudine Ridge wind farm near Mudgee.
The projects, all of them listed on the RDA Orana website, are expected to generate about 2500 “direct and permanent” jobs while triggering 2500 “flow-on” jobs in industries supporting the boom.
“What the business community believes is that the growth rate is too slow to support economic activity in terms of workforce,” RDA Orana’s Dubbo-based director Megan Dixon said.
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Mrs Dixon said when governments spoke about regional Australia they were referring to “anything outside of a capital city”.
“But inland areas are very different to coastal areas,” she said. “Strategy and policy needs to be differentiated.”
The director said the summit aimed to create a “voice for inland Australia” which was “critically important” to the nation’s economy.
“If you look at the Orana region alone, it contributes $8 billion GRP (Gross Regional Product) which is really significant,” she said.
Businesses, academics and the RDA network are responding positively to the summit where speakers will address key topics including outlook and growth targets, and impediments to growth.
The summit will be held at Lazy River Estate.
Tickets can be bought at https://www.rdaorana.org.au/spotlight/.