Healthy, growing communities each with a unique character and lifestyle

Regional focus areas: Health, Housing, Education and training

Regional infrastructure priorities:

• Upgraded aging healthcare assets to better support contemporary healthcare models aligned with delivering care closer to home, virtual care and patient transfer between clinic and home.
• New, innovative and affordable housing for rent or purchase for all members of the community to support the attraction and retention of workers with proposed solutions, especially in small and remote communities
• Accommodation to support the attraction, retention and safety of staff, through the delivery of more onsite accommodation and renovating existing accommodation
• Continued investment in education and training infrastructure that support local workforce training to meet the needs of existing industries; the growing service industries of health, disability services, aged care, tourism and hospitality; and new industry skills in AgTech, robotics, renewable hydrogen and other renewable energy technologies
• Continued investment in childcare facilities and services, particularly for outer regional and remote areas
• Digital and telecommunications infrastructure that improves connectivity and support the provision of services in schools, hospitals, clinics, homes and businesses, to enhance liveability, for example, in remote locations which may lack the digital capacity to increase bandwidth and can suffer from ICT outages
• Provision of aged care facilities as well as improving and expanding existing facilities, including facilities to support ageing in place
• Investigate options for multi-use or shared use facilities for the delivery of public, private and not-for-profit services in the one location to improve access and support for the community
• Inclusive and sustainable arts, culture and recreation infrastructure is supported through targeted investment to enhance community access.
• New infrastructure considers opportunities to incorporate and make sustainable use of the natural environment and support biodiversity
• Recognition and promotion of First Nations languages through use of First Nations place names
• Leverage local governments’ funding and delivery of sustainable infrastructure to support their economic development and community liveability, including:
  • local government infrastructure maintenance
  • trunk infrastructure, particularly in remote communities and regional communities experiencing rapid population growth.
• Long-term strategies for sustainable infrastructure planning to underpin core and essential services, including electrical, water, telecommunication and data networks, for remote communities to support community liveability and industry sustainability.
• Capitalising on major infrastructure projects with major workforces (relative to the community):
  • explore opportunities for support buildings (e.g. site offices, work camps, etc) to deliver benefits to community beyond the project
  • considers the capacity of the local area to accommodate and service the temporary increase in population.