The first half of 2025 has been busy for Regional Capitals Australia board and its members.
In February, we went to Canberra to advocate for our policy priorities and ongoing investment in our Regional Capitals ahead of the March budget and the Federal election.
We met with ministers and shadow ministers across our major policy areas, including infrastructure, regional development, immigration and water, to put our case to them.
We are looking forward to continuing to work with them to ensure Canberra decision makers understand what our fast-growing Regional Capitals need to thrive.
As the second Albanese Ministry hits its stride for their second term, we are resetting our engagement with the Federal Government to further progress our policy priorities.
The first and most pressing is on-going investment in regional aviation. We will also continue to monitor events as administrators work to secure a buyer for Regional Express.
We will also continue to focus on support for housing, water, liveability infrastructure and immigration, more on this below
Recently our South Australian board representative Port Lincoln Mayor Diana Mislov spoke on behalf of RCA at the Regional Migration Conference held in Adelaide, where she made the case for changes to migration settings to encourage more people to settle in regional areas.
During the Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly, our members were able to wrap up the financial year in Canberra at a joint dinner with their counterparts at Regional Cities New South Wales. It was an important opportunity to connect professionally and further mutual understanding of the challenges we are all facing.
Finally, in the coming months we will say goodbye and thank-you to Brett Stonestreet, who will retire after 14 years as General Manager of Griffith City Council. We wish Brett all the best for retirement and acknowledge his hard work, support and contribution to Regional Capitals Australia.
Kind regards
Mayor Peter Carter
Chair, Regional Capitals Australia