The Whalesong Project: Whalelog

Monday, 16 January 2006

Telecommunications to shape Regional Competitiveness.

It can be said that, as a driver of economic development in the 21st century, communications infrastructure is as important as roads and railways were in the 19th century.

Q. Where have we heard this before?

A. In all CRLLEN strategic planning documents since 2003.

The 2005-06 State of the Regions report states telecommunications as a theme that is at the very core of the issues that may well shape the economic development opportunities and competitiveness of Australia's regions. The Report explores the case for the use of telecommunications infrastructure, to assist regions improve their performance.

The State of the Regions (SOR) report - commissioned by the Australian Local Governments Association [ALGA]from National Economics - provides an annual stock-take of the economic well being of Australia's regions and their prospects for economic development and employment growth. SOR looks at strategies to strengthen local and regional economic and employment outcomes, and emphasises the importance of local government and regional agencies.

Members will see the immediate relevance of the CRLLEN's long-term strategy and the integration of the Community of Integrated Networks project 2004 + [C.O.I.N's] and the Community Demand Aggregation Broker Project 2005 +[CDAB] with a view of integrating infrastructure planning with long-term coordinated planning of programme provision, resource sharing and application development across all post-compulsory sectors.

The report states:

The technical and innovation issues that drive the telecommunications infrastructure debate and the impact of information communication technology on economic development are complex. Because of this complexity, the key issues and outcomes that surround the telecommunications infrastructure debate are sometimes hard to follow.

How can regions protect their own futures and sustain competitiveness in a global and increasingly knowledge based economy?
What are the real issues and facts relating to the telecommunications debate?
What are the consequences of getting it wrong?

The Board of the Central Ranges Local Learning and Employment Network has worked closely with National Economics over the last four years as the preferred contractor for the publication of all social and economic modeling completed for the CRLLEN Environmental Scan. All members and stakeholders of the the CRLLEN will be very familiar with this work and understand how valuable this has been to the work of the LLEN and all its stakeholders.

The CRLLEN is hosting a high level meeting of Shire executives and National Economics Executive Director, Dr. Peter Brain next week to explore the possibility of integrating planning and modeling for the CRLLEN region and support for broader State-Wide and National planning in 2007 and beyond.

To read the full story, please follow this link.

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