Building Community and Economic Legacy in the Greater Whitsunday Region

Exploring “Inclusive Growth” in the WIM region.

Recently, Greater Whitsunday was successful in their application with the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund Round 5 to establish a regional WIM Socio-Economic Community of Practice, bringing together social and economic development practitioners, community members, Local Government stakeholders and other key representatives.

This project will build on 2 previous forums convened by GW Communities, 1 being the Community Forum within the SEGRA 2018 National Conference, and the other being the WIM Socio-Economic Forum 2018, both of which explored the interconnection between strong economies and strong communities, and what that looked like in the Whitsunday-Isaac-Mackay (WIM) region.

As a region generating considerable national wealth through major mining, energy and agricultural projects WIM region provides an ideal case study into how the social and the economic are interconnected, and if and how the wealth is shared by residents of the region. It is also timely, to consider the legacy of the major projects, when mining is no longer a key industry.

This project will explore and raise awareness of the concept of “Inclusive Growth” for WIM. The OECD defines it as; “Inclusive Growth” is economic growth that is distributed fairly across society and creates opportunities for all”. It will also explore opportunities for Social Enterprises across the region.

It proposes to provide equitable opportunities and benefits to all sections of society, including the more marginalised, during times of economic growth, such as been witnessed in WIM region over recent years. The long-term goal is for increased community well-being, social and environmental sustainability.