City central focus and performance data crucial to transitioning regions study

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Productivity Commission study into ‘transitioning regional economies’ has provided a timely opportunity for RCA to remind policy makers that there should be a growing focus on urban regional Australia if declining productivity is to be addressed.
All cities that work are economic assets, and making the most of these assets can only occur if regional capital cities (RCCs) are adequately planned for, funded and their performance measured.
RCA has highlighted that current data gaps are preventing crucial tracking of the diversity and performance of transitioning regions over time. As such, RCA’s submission pushes for the importance of RCCs to their wider region to be specifically recognised as part of national regional policy going forward, to deliver more effective tracking and higher productivity levels in the regions.
RCA makes six recommendations to the Commission, including seeking commitments from the Federal Government on City Deals initiatives and Infrastructure Australia recommendations, and policy solutions that promote digital readiness in regional Australia.
To read RCA’s full submission including our recommendations email the RCA secretariat.