Council submission to senate inquiry calls for region-first approach

Published on 12 September 2017

Rockhampton Regional Council has again pushed its case to strike a City Deal with the Federal Government as part of a submission to a new senate inquiry exploring ways to increase growth and prosperity in Regional and rural communities.

City Deals are partnerships between all levels of Government that take a collaborative approach to delivering major infrastructure and projects and Mayor Margaret Strelow said the region was the perfect place to do a deal.

“A partnership like this would deliver real benefits for our entire region and help drive economic growth, create local jobs, deliver major infrastructure and attract more private sector investment,” Mayor Strelow said.

“The submission Councillors passed at today’s meeting also highlights the benefits which could come from relocating freight infrastructure and tasks out of our capital cities and into the regions to stimulate new growth and development in the sector.

“Finally, our submission also highlights council’s investment in innovative technologies unique to regional Australia and the importance of incubators, like the Smart Hub, that are vital to improving corporate decentralisation,” Mayor Strelow said.

Earlier this year Council also lodged a senate submission strongly in support of the proposed policy to relocate Commonwealth departments into Regional areas, advocating Rockhampton as a strategically strong regional capital.

This was also reinforced in Council’s latest submission, citing the historic decentralisation of Commonwealth entities and facilities to north Townsville and Darwin as successful approaches.

“Once again, our submission urges the Senate Enquiry to consider re-establishing Government agencies that traditionally had a presence in the Region and to take advantage of our strategic location that would be of great benefit to these entities,” Mayor Strelow said.