A peak regional development group has praised the government’s City Deals program as the sort of long-term planning that Tasmania requires.
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The program is worked at by three levels of government with the aim of identifying future growth and investment plans, backed by the required public funding.
So far, Launceston and Townsville are the only places that have implemented a City Deal.
A Senate inquiry has been established to look at how the nation’s cities can be kept sustainable and how new and existing regional towns can grow.
Specifically for regional towns, the committee will look at development in regional centres, promotion of competitive advantages of a regional place or business, and identification of infrastructure requirements.
Regional Development Australia community and strategic development officer, Jen Newman, said cities were not homogenous so each approach to development needed to be different.
She said committing to priorities was challenging as political cycles and changes in economic and social circumstances influenced short-term wins rather than long-term outcomes.
“Policies, such as City Deals, encourage broad, collaborative thinking and good governance,” Ms Newman said.
She said Tasmania’s fate or fortune lay in employment opportunities which meant any policy or incentive applied to the state needed to be judged on whether it would make its economy more competitive.
Ms Newman said policies and incentives were due to fail if it didn’t have community support or if it was based on what a community desired rather than needed.
Submissions to the inquiry close this month.