Inverell Shire Council supports New England Joint Organisation to strengthen regional economy

New England North West NSW Business Chamber’s regional manager Joe Townsend said the state’s economy was performing strongly, however regional economy has not performed as well as Metro-Sydney.

“The newly formed Namoi and New England Joint Organisation’s have an opportunity to focus on strengthening private industry such as social services and manufacturing, and capitalize from the significant engineering construction pipeline of NSW’s Governments $80 billion infrastructure pipeline,” Mr Townsend said.

Councils forming the New England Joint Organisation include Armidale Regional, Glen Innes Severn, Inverell, Moree Plains, Tenterfield and Uralla.

The announcement made by Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW, John Barilaro and Local Government Minister, Gabrielle Upton, is the first step in reforming the way in which Governments undertake research, and prioritisation into regionally significant economic issues to allow for a greater level of contestability from groups with specific expertise and experience in undertaking such research.

“I believe that opening up the pool of economic development research funds to allow for collective non-government groups such as Chambers and community organisations to tender for such work in the future would provide greater weight to advocacy calls and lead to more diverse voices raising key regional issues,” he said.

“We need to create an environment that supports a thriving private sector for the benefit and growth of the New England and Namoi Regions.

“Planning and initiating regional development strategy should provide clear opportunities for input from representatives from the regional business community; the backbone of regional NSW, employers of the residents in each Council, and the reason why the New England and Namoi economy will continue to grow.”