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Queensland’s inaugural Annual Regions Summit brought together senior leaders from government, industry, investment and local government to examine the opportunities and challenges shaping regional Queensland through to 2060.
The Summit opened with QFI President Kate Farrar outlining findings from QFI’s Annual Leaders Survey, before a fireside discussion with Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser and a panel examining regional investment, diversification, workforce and economic resilience.
A central proposition framed the discussion: Queensland operates as one economy. Around half the state’s population lives outside Greater Brisbane, while regional Queensland accounts for more than 99% of its landmass and more than 90% of its goods exports. QFI’s view is that the prosperity of the regions and southeast Queensland is therefore deeply interconnected.
Across the Summit, several themes emerged strongly. Queensland’s growth remains a significant economic advantage, but is placing increasing pressure on housing, infrastructure, services and workforce capacity. Productivity emerged repeatedly as a central economic challenge, while speakers highlighted significant opportunities to build more sophisticated regional industries around Queensland’s established strengths in resources, agriculture, energy and engineering.
The discussion also reinforced the importance of investment settings that are competitive and workable, local capability and skills development, stronger regional supply chains, and collaboration between governments, industry, investors and communities.
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