Mayor of Northern Grampians Shire Council, Cr Kevin Erwin has welcomed Regional Australia Institute's (RIA) latest report, Regional Population Growth: Are we ready?, as council sharpens its focus to attract more people to settle within the region.
The report makes recommendations for the establishment of a national awareness campaign to promote regional population opportunities, the development of regional settlement strategies and the elevation of migration strategies for regional Australia.
Population growth is a key area of focus for council, with an estimated 1,000 new jobs coming to the region over the next five years for major projects such as the Bulgana Green Power Hub, Nectar Farms, GILMAC in St Arnaud, Stawell Gold Mine and the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory among others.
Council also remains confident that it can attract developers to create sorely needed additional housing to the area, through a new housing development in Sloane Street, Stawell, to support these employment opportunities.
Mayor of Northern Grampians Shire Council, Cr Kevin Erwin said, "I think the RAI's report is fantastic and really brings to light why it's so important to start getting people moving out to regional and rural areas."
"We couldn't be more supportive of RAI's recommendations, and we're hoping the governments are too so that they can help encourage families to relocate to regions such as ours."
Cr Erwin and council staff attended RAI's Regions Rising event last week where the report was released.
Council has also welcomed the new MOVE tool developed by RAI, which shows potential home owners which areas in Australia give them the best chance of paying off their mortgage faster.
A copy of the research paper and new tool, MOVE, is available at www.regionalaustralia.org.au.
