The federal election and the swearing in for a second term of the Albanese Ministry has provided a natural opportunity for Regional Capitals Australia to review and reset our engagement with the Federal Government.
On-going government investment into regional aviation and airports remains among our primary priorities, given the change and uncertainty we’ve seen over the past 12 months.
We are working towards commissioning a business case to determine the value of regional airports to the nation’s economy and the cost and benefit of federal investment in regional airports.
We will monitor developments as administrators work to secure the sale of Regional Express, or Rex. The Federal Government has provided significant support for Rex, signalling its commitment to maintaining aviation services to regional and remote areas.
Alongside preserving regional aviation, we are re-focusing our government advocacy work on our priorities. They are:
- local government’s role in delivering regional housing and the need for enabling funding;
- seeking commitment on ongoing funding for regional infrastructure; and
- making the case for local government to access the National Water Grid Infrastructure Funding for regional communities.
We will continue our work to secure federal government investment in significant infrastructure and services beyond the capacity of local government to fund alone.
Alongside this, RCA remains committed to securing:
- Population policy that encourages more people to live in regional capitals and reforms the Designated Area Migration Agreements program;
- Local Community Infrastructure policy that includes community infrastructure funding via annual allocations to councils; and
- Arts and Cultural funding that better reflects population distribution across the nation and anticipated growth.
Read more about our Policy Priorities 2025 here.