RCA Chair Cr Kylie King (above, second from the right) was among the key speakers at the Regional Australia Institute’s 2024 National Summit held in Canberra in August.
The two-day Summit, held at the National Convention Centre, brought together 420 delegates from Government, industry and regional communities to discuss issues and challenges impacting the regions.
Cr King was a panellist for a session entitled The Big Regions: Purposeful Population Growth.
Cr King told delegates that regional capitals were now growing at the fastest rate in history, a change fuelled by the shift towards remote working.
This change to work practices brought new skills and opportunities to the regional capitals, and helped to diversify our communities and local economies, she told the Summit.
Cr King said population growth did place pressure on key services and infrastructure, particularly house and health services.
Cr King said sustainable population growth was welcome, but regional cities needed more consistent Government funding to ensure we could support that growth.
Also during the Summit, The Regional Australia Institute released its research report, Towards Net Zero: Empowering Regional Communities.
The report looks at the community dynamics, barriers and enabling factors that support mid-sized regional Australian communities in their transition to net zero.