The drought, floods, bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic will have lasting impacts on the economy, infrastructure, social systems, natural environment and wellbeing of people and communities across the region – impacts that require a new approach.

Innovative mitigation measures to manage and use water, protect waterways, biodiversity and wildlife corridors, harness renewable energy and prepare for natural hazards by reducing exposure and addressing vulnerabilities to help tackle the impacts of climate change. A circular economy and low-emissions transport initiatives support a more sustainable and net zero emissions future.

Carbon sequestration through soils on agricultural land could mitigate the impacts of climate change. However, effectively enabling this process, requires management actions such as stubble retention, maintaining ground cover, pasture phases in crop rotation, improving plant production through nutrient management and overcoming soil constraints such as soil acidity.

Arts and cultural infrastructure include Queanbeyan and Goulburn Performing Arts Centres, galleries such as Ngununggula Southern Highlands Regional Gallery, Apma Creations Aboriginal Art Gallery in Central Tilba, as well as small artist run spaces in Cobargo, and volunteer managed schools of arts.

The Southern Inland Region is uniquely located between the two biggest population centres and domestic economies in Australia - Sydney and Melbourne, and surrounds the Australian Capital Territory. The region encompasses Hilltops, Upper Lachlan, Goulburn, Queanbeyan, Monaro, Wingecarribee and the Yass Valley.

Just two hours from Sydney and one hour from Canberra, Goulburn-Mulwaree gives businesses great access to markets, resources and ports but with much lower overheads.

The Hilltops region is located in the Tablelands of New South Wales. The area is just over an hour north of Canberra and features the thriving towns of Young, Harden and Boorowa, along with a wide range of villages that are bursting with a rich history. The region is renowned for agriculture, including sheep grazing, cropping, viticulture, stone fruits and horticulture.

Queanbeyan-Palerang is an area of approximately 5,300km2 located between the eastern border of the ACT and the Great Dividing Range. Queanbeyan makes up the majority of the urban population and is a prospering river city.

Upper Lachlan is an area that is known for its quaint villages, fine wool, potato production, wind farms, history and picturesque countryside.

Located on the doorstep of the Nation’s Capital, Yass Valley boasts a modern and well renowned food and wine scene, numerous education options, employment opportunities and medical and general services including a hospital, three large supermarkets, sporting facilities and housing opportunities well below the median house price of nearby Canberra.

The area has many great schools where professional development opportunities, learning programs and strategies are on offer to support every stage of your career. Thanks to its close proximity to the ACT and Victoria, the southern area of NSW has many of the services found in larger cities and towns.

Charles Sturt University has a campus in Goulburn. Charles Sturt University teaches the Associate Degree in Policing Practice from the NSW Police Force Academy in Goulburn. This academy provides the majority of the NSW Police Force’s education and training needs.

The region is a significant contributor to NSW’s wool production, supplying 18% of the state’s production, 14% of sheep and lamb production and 15.5% of milk production.

The region is also known for cherry production and is an important producer of seed potatoes.

Southern NSW Local Health District covers an area of 44,534 square kilometres. The Goulburn Hospital and Health Service Redevelopment includes a new four-storey clinical services building which will house most health services in one location.

The new facility will have a new main entry and hospital reception, a new emergency department, a new medical imaging department, a new intensive care unit, new operating theatres, day surgery, recovery and pre-admission areas, new medical, surgical, paediatric and geriatric inpatient wards with specific designated palliative care beds and a new maternity and birthing suite.

Is Australia’s housing crisis self-inflicted? If so, then we need a series of reforms to reverse it
The best long-term solution to the structural problems of the rental crisis is to build more public and/or affordable housing.

Make renting more Sustainable. Increase rent assistance or look at rental caps, similar to countries in Europe and some US states, long term tenancy agreements with incentives for all parties to the agreement.

Build to Rent
The Build to Rent property sector is growing in Australia – this new class of housing is focused on providing high quality purpose designed and built rental stock, creating an additional housing choice for Australian renters with greater security and service.

Build to Rent developments are typically owned by institutional investors for the long term and the owner could be the developer/ongoing building manager. The format provides tenants with the flexibility of renting with the security of home ownership.

Build-to-Rent developments are usually large-scale residential properties specifically designed, built and managed for long-term ownership and rental.

Social Housing
In the 40 years between 1981 and 2021 the percentage of all Australian households living in social housing (i.e. state owned and managed public housing or community managed housing) has ranged from 4.9 per cent in 1981 to 3.8 per cent in 2021. Such a drop in the proportion of social housing raises the question of has Australia achieved the balance right, and also just what is the right level of social housing for Australia?

In 2018 Statistics Canada said 628,700 Canadian households, more than one in ten renter households nationally (13.5% of 4,652,500), were living in social and affordable housing.
In New Zealand, as of 30 June 2021, there were 74,337 public housing households. This equates to 4.0% of households living in social housing.

In England (in 2018) 17% of households (3.9 million) lived in social housing, while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes that 1.2 million households live in public housing, which is 0.98 per cent of all housing.

Australians have a talent for ingenuity and creative thinking. From ancient times, Australians have used the materials around them to develop unique and practical tools to help them live and prosper. Among the huge variety of Australian inventions are the boomerang, cochlear implants, polymer banknotes and wi-fi technology.

Science, research and innovation are central to securing Australia’s future. For too long Australia has relied on the commodity cycle to underwrite its prosperity. Australia must become a ‘smart’ nation, drawing on knowledge and ideas to build competitive and sustainable businesses that create high skill, high productivity jobs and that capture value through integration into the global economic system.

Advances in digital and other enabling technologies are transforming some commodity industries into ‘high tech’. But these industries only employ a small number of workers. It is therefore important to develop other parts of the economy, particularly in advanced manufacturing and services, where there are untapped opportunities for innovation and the creation of high skill, high wage jobs.

Australia can also build on its already strong mining, energy and agriculture base and extend it into value added products and services through the application of science, advanced technologies and creative talent.

Australia must be able to respond to and capture the opportunities of changing patterns of international trade, especially through our closer economic ties with China, India and the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, like other countries, Australia also faces the challenges of climate change, urbanisation and securing a sustainable energy future.

The South East and Tablelands Region contains valuable mineral resources including coal,
precious and base metals and extractive materials.

The region contains deposits of several important base metals (lead, zinc, silver, copper) in the Woodlawn and Captains Flat areas. Extractive resources, including construction material such as sand, hard rock and sources of clay and shale for brick making, are extracted throughout the region, including around Googong, Bungendore, and Lake George. Gold is extracted from Majors Creek.

Electricity generation and the agriculture and transport sectors contribute the bulk of emissions in the region. While the region does not have its own renewable energy zone, the existing renewable energy network, coupled with increased renewable energy into the NSW electricity grid will benefit the region and reduce emissions. Renewable energy initiatives are therefore supported with a particular focus on reducing emissions from agriculture and
transport.

The region is already a well-established hub for renewable energy with its many wind and solar farms. Solar photovoltaic uptake is also relatively high in the region with installation on 33% of dwellings, higher than the state and national average. Increasing uptake together with battery storage will reduce emissions and improve

Visitors to the South East and Tablelands Region enjoy year-round access to mountains, coasts and rural hinterlands, as well as Canberra’s world-class cultural institutions, such as the National Museum of Australia, the Australian War Memorial and the National Gallery
of Australia.

The tourism industry brings $1.2 billion to the regional economy each year. The Snowy
Mountains, the south coast and the rural hinterland offer recreational experiences including food, wine and cultural trails.

The Snowy Mountains tourism industry contributes more than $500 million to the regional economy each year. This market is geared towards winter, with more than half the visitation occurring during the peak snow period, making it the most seasonal tourism location in Australia.

Agritourism ventures such as farm stay accommodation, farm gate activities and farm
events enable farmers to diversify and value-add to their existing farming enterprises.

Australia has capabilities along most of the space industry supply chain. By far the strongest areas are in applications where Australia has experience in integrating space sourced data into communications, Earth Observations from Space and Global Navigational Satellite Services (GNSS).

Manufacturing
Australia has no capability in the manufacture of large satellites and limited capability in design and specification of launch vehicles. However it does have capability in the specification and design of communications satellites through Optus and an emerging capability in the design and manufacture of nano- and micro-satellites in universities and emerging start-up companies.
Manufacturing of satellite sub-systems is an emerging capability that has good prospects. This includes high performance optics, radio communications systems, optical communications systems and on-board data handling. Many of these activities build on Australia’s capability in the manufacture of ground-based optical systems for astronomy, satellite laser ranging and space debris tracking.

Community sport infrastructure is a key driver of economic, health and social benefits.

Positive outcomes occur though participation in recreation based activities, but sport infrastructure amplifies outcomes, with volunteers and officials, team members and social supporters.

Community sport infrastructure provides a gathering place for a broad range of events, celebrations and meetings, supports greater amenity within communities, enhances connectedness and community pride, and provides safe spaces for response to disaster and security threats.

Sports tourism refers to the act of traveling specially for the purpose of enjoying sports in one way or another.

Sports tourism constitutes a large part of the tourism industry, with sources claiming that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports-related. Sports tourism includes not only participation in and attending sporting events, but also personal recreational activities.

“Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurants- projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.”

Sports tourism refers to the act of traveling specially for the purpose of enjoying sports in one way or another.

Sports tourism constitutes a large part of the tourism industry, with sources claiming that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports-related. Sports tourism includes not only participation in and attending sporting events, but also personal recreational activities.

“Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurants- projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.”

At the heart of Stack+ is the idea of transdisciplinary innovation and collaboration.

The program fosters a vibrant, supportive community where you'll connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and industry leaders,
paving the way for long-term success.

The "Stack" concept is all about combining the right technologies and skills to create a complete, streamlined solution.

In the Stack+ Program, you’ll build on your existing STEM or tech knowledge through a carefully crafted stack of essential learning, development, and application. This approach is key to driving the growth and success of a resilient, sustainable innovation-driven business.

Startup Tablelands is entering its 7th year of operation and in 2021 we are increasing our focus on the powerful combination of technology and consciousness. We are providing various opportunities for everyone in our region to experience and learn about transformational technology that is designed to enhance both external and internal growth.

Startup Tablelands along with the Tablelands Business Hub continues to be THE space for dynamic, enthusiastic and free-thinking people to grow themselves and their entrepreneurial ideas.

Startup Tasmania, Inc. was founded in 2011. The organisation started Tasmania’s first co-working space in the basement of 71 Murray Street, Hobart. Many Tasmanian entrepreneurs found their feet in “the lair”, including Secret Lab, QikID and Grifby, and many more joined us for our regular breakfasts, drinks and mentoring events.

When the basement space became unavailable, a number of our members pulled together and established The Typewriter Factory, initially as individual office spaces with Startup Tasmania as one of the founding tenants. We operated a (much smaller) shared office in The Typewriter Factory for a few months until they expanded into their larger coworking space in the loft. We now use this space regularly for our Hobart events.

More recently we’ve supported the establishment of Cradle Coast Innovation in the North-West, The Catalyst Project in the North, assisted with the organisation of GovHack Tasmania and have organised Tasmania’s part of the inaugural Startup Spring festival.

The world is changing around us. Digital technology has become a core part of our everyday lives. Advances in technology impact everything, especially the world of work. Entire job sectors are emerging or disappearing, and workforces are rushing to keep up with change.

Automation and globalisation are changing the way we think about, and define, careers. Employment is becoming fluid, and people will go from having one profession to several in their working life. These may be entirely different roles, across entirely different sectors.

As the world of work changes, we will need to change our skills to match. The gap between the knowledge generated in the education system and the skills demanded by employers and individuals is widening.

Overcoming these limitations requires a priority focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), including the development of workplace skills in STEM.

Council recognises climate change as a global issue and that we are in a state of climate emergency requiring urgent and sustained effort. We also recognise that responding to climate change is a shared responsibility. We need to work together to focus our efforts and change our behaviours to increase the resilience of our region.

We need to prepare for the likely impacts of a changing climate, whilst also reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Governments have an important role in showing leadership and supporting community action.